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By  Franklin 
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I 

1 

MAJOR-GENERAL    JOHN    R.    BROOKE,    U.S.A.    MILITARY    GOVERNOR    OF 
CUBA,  AT    HIS    HEADQUARTERS 


THE 

NEW-BORN   CUBA 


~i — > — i-i — r- 


>    » > 


FRANKLIN    MATTHEWS 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW     YORK     AND 

LONDON 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS 

PUBLISHERS 

1899 

•  ••••• 


Copyright,  1899,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 

All  rights  reserved. 


TO 

WILLIAM   ALLEN   WHITE 

WORTHY  REPRESENTATIVE 

OF   THB 

BEST  TENDENCIES  IN  AMERICAN  JOURNALISM 
AND  AMERICAN  LETTERS 


601784 


PREFACE 


The  old  saying  that  to  start  right  is  half  the  battle 
never  had  a  better  opportunity  for  exemplification  than 
in  the  first  steps  of  the  reconstruction  of  Cuba  by  the 
United  States.  The  world  never  saw  a  similar  situa- 
tion. An  attempt  has  been  made  in  these  pages  to  tell 
what  certain  of  the  problems  involved  were  and  how 
they  were  met.  Most  of  the  chapters  of  this  book  ap- 
peared in  a  series  of  articles  printed  in  Harper's  Weekly 
early  in  1899,  but  it  has  seemed  best  to  supplement  them 
with  others  giving  a  fuller  account  of  what  took  place 
in  Cuba  in  the  first  sixty  days  of  American  occupation 
and  control,  when  the  twig  was  bent  for  future  growth. 
Whether  the  grown  tree  shall  bear  the  fruit  of  national 
independence  or  of  colonial  dependence  or  of  complete 
political  assimilation  depends  largely  upon  the  develop- 
ment and  conditions  of  the  future.  The  twig  certainly 
was  trained  to  stand  erect  and  to  grow  straight  and  true 
by  the  American  army  officials  and  others,  so  as  to  pro- 
duce national  independence.  What  some  of  the  agencies 
were  that  were  used  to  that  end  and  who  some  of  the 
leading  men  were  that  carried  out  with  absolute  fidelity 
and  most  faithful  zeal  the  orders  issued  in  accordance 


vi  PREFACE 

with  the  intervention  resolutions  of  Congress  may  be 
learned  in  these  chapters. 

Cuba's  future,  it  is  safe  to  predict,  will  reveal  and  jus- 
tify the  wise  and  beneficent  acts  of  the  American  officials 
during  the  most  critical  part  of  American  occupation — 
namely,  its  beginning  and  early  growth,  or  during  its 
first  sixty  days.  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  later 
complications,  American  occupation  of  Cuba  assuredly 
was  started  right. 

F.  M. 

New  York,  August,  1899. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Havana  under  American  Military  Rule i 

II.  The  Cuba  of    1899 — The  Political  and  Industrial 

Situation  — The  Future 2S 

III.  Havana  Grave  and  Gay — General  Garcia's  Funeral, 

and  the  First  Sunday  ok  the  Carnival     ...  59 

IV.  Public   Works    in    Havana  —  Street  -  cleaning  and 

Other  Problems 94 

V.  Sanitation  in  Havana 117.. 

VI.  An  Honest  Customs  Service  in  Cuba 137 

VII.  Cuba's  New  Postal  Service 162 

VIII.  Taxation  and  Matters  of  Finance  in  Havana     .     .  183 
IX.  Americans  in  Cuba — The  Descent  upon  the  Island 

and  its  Results 203 

X.  Conditions  in  Pinar  del  Rio 223 

XI.  Conditions  in  Matanzas 246 

XII,  Conditions  in  Santa  Clara 273 

XIII.  Conditions  in  Santiago 296 

XIV.  American  Soldiers  in  Cuba 319 

XV.  The  Sugar  Problem  in  Cuba 345 

XVI.  Tobacco  in  Cuba 364 

XVII.  Havana's  New  Police  Force 376 

vii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACK 
MAJOR-GENERAL  JOHN    R.    BROOKE,   U.   S.   A.,    MILITARY   GOVERNOR 

OF  CUBA,  AT   HIS   HEADQUARTERS Frontispiece 

A   BATTERY   OF    THE   SECOND   U.   S.    ARTILLERY   AT    GUARD-MOUNT, 

CAPTAIN-GENERAL'S   PALACE 2 

TENTH     REGULAR    INFANTRY,     HAVANA'S   TEMPORARY     POLICE    DE- 
PARTMENT,  IN   CAMP  ON   THE   PRADO 5 

THE   HOTEL   INGLATERRA   AND   CENTRAL   PARK 7 

MAJOR-GENERAL   WILLIAM    LUDLOW,  U.   S.  V.,  MILITARY  GOVERNOR 

OF  THE  CITY   OF   HAVANA 9 

A   HAVANESE   HAWKER II 

GENERAL   LUDLOW'S   HEADQUARTERS   AND   RESIDENCE 13 

AMERICAN    VISITORS   TO   CABAffAS   FORTRESS 1 5 

DRAWING-ROOM,   GENERAL   LUDLOW'S    RESIDENCE 19 

VIEW   OF   HAVANA    HARBOR    FROM    MORRO   CASTLE 23 

WAR'S   RUIN   AT   COLISEO,  TWENTY-TWO    MILES   FROM    MATANZAS     .  29 

TYPICAL  PEASANT'S   HOUSE,   OUTSKIRTS   OF   MATANZAS        ....  3 1 

ROYAL   PALM-TREES   AND   BLOCK-HOUSE   NEAR   MATANZAS        ...  32 

BURNED   SUGAR-REFINERY   AT   CAMPO    FLORIDO 34 

SUGAR-REFINERY    IN   OPERATION    LATE   IN    FEBRUARY 35 

THE   CUBAN   SOLDIER   AS   HE   WAS   AFTER   THE   WAR 36 

A  TYPICAL   CUBAN    VILLAGE 38 

MAXIMO    GOMEZ 41 

GENERAL   GOMEZ   LEAVING  HIS   HEADQUARTERS   WITH    FRIENDS        .  45 

A   MEETING   OF   THE   CUBAN   ASSEMBLY   AT   CERRO 49 

QUINTA    DE    LOS    MOLINOS,    HEADQUARTERS   OF    GENERAL    GOMEZ, 

FORMERLY   THE   CAPTAIN-GENERAL'S   SUMMER    PALACE     ...  53 

ix 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FAGS 

the  prado,  Havana's  great  show  street — the  scene  of  the 

CARNIVAL ^.      .      .      .       .  6l 

THE  TROCHA  HOTEL,  VEDADO — GENERAL  BROOKE'S  HEADQUARTERS.  64 
CUBAN    SOCIETIES    PARADING    AT    GENERAL    GARCIA's     FUNERAL — 

VIEW   DOWN  THE   PRADO 65 

O'REILLY,    PRINCIPAL   BUSINESS   STREET   OF   HAVANA 67 

THE   HARBOR   SEEN   FROM    MORRO   CASTLE 69 

CABANAS 73 

COMPANY  KITCHEN  OF  THE  TENTH  REGULAR  INFANTRY  ON  THE  PRADO  77 

AT  THE  ANCHORAGE 79 

DINING  TENT  OF   THE  TENTH    REGULAR  INFANTRY  ON  THE   PRADO.  83 

EASTER   CEREMONY   DURING   GRAND   MASS   AT  THE   CATHEDRAL        .  85 

GUARD-MOUNT   OF  TENTH   REGULAR   INFANTRY  ON   THE   PRADO  .      .  88 

MERCEDES   CHURCH,    BUILT    1 746 91 

STREET-CLEANING  FORCE — CORNER  OF  PRADO  AND  NEPTUNE  STREET.  95 

FACTORIA   STREET,   UNDER   REPAIR 96 

MAP — STREET-CLEANING Facing  98 

ZULETA   AND   TROCADERO    STREETS  —  STREET-CLEANING   FORCE   GO- 
ING TO   WORK 98 

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL  WILLIAM  M.   BLACK,  U.   S.  A.,   CHIEF  OF  THE 

DEPARTMENT   OF   PUBLIC  WORKS IOO 

FLORIDA   STREET   BEFORE   AMERICAN   OCCUPATION    ......  102 

MERCADERAS   STREET,   LOOKING   EAST   FROM   EMPEDRADO        .       .       .  IO4 

MONSERRATE  AND  O'REILLY  STREETS — STATUE  OF  GENERAL  TACON.  I07 
HOW   THE  "  NORTHERS"  CLEAN  OUT  HAVANA  HARBOR — BEACH  BE- 
TWEEN MORRO  CASTLE  AND  CABANAS,    SHOWING  CLEAN  CORAL 

AND    SAND I IO 

WAVES  BREAKING  OVER  MORRO  CASTLE  DURING  THE  GREAT  STORM 

OF   FEBRUARY    13,    1899 Ill 

THE  CORNER   OF   O'REILLY   AND   COMPOSTELLA   STREETS     .      .       .       .  II4 

MAJOR  JOHN   G.    DAVIS,   U.    S.   V.,   DEPARTMENT   OF   SANITATION        .  II9 

THE   PRESIDIO,  NOW   THE   CITY   PENITENTIARY 121 

OLD   MILITARY   PRISON,   PLAZA   DE   ARMAS 123 

CAPTAIN  E.  ST.  J.  GREBLE,  U.  S.  V.,  DEPARTMENT  OF  FOOD-SUPPLIES.  129 
DESTITUTE  CUBANS  DRAWING   RATIONS  FROM  THE  RELIEF  STATION 

ON   THE   PRADO 131 

X 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 
WITHIN   THE    TENTH    U.   S.   INFANTRY'S     RELIEF   STATION     ON     TH1 

PRADO 135 

COLONEL  T.   H.   BLfsS,   U.    S.  A.,   COLLECTOR   OF  CUSTOMS,   HAVANA.  I3S 

THE   STREET   HAWKER I41 

WALTER   A.    DONALDSON,   DEPUTY-COLLECTOR   OF   CUSTOMS     .       .       .  1 45 

HAVANA— CUSTOM-HOUSE   WHARVES   AND    LANDING-STAGE      .       .       .  1 50 

AMERICAN   CONSULATE 153 

THE   CUSTOM-HOUSE 159 

MAJOR   E.   G.   RATHBONE,   DIRECTOR   OF   POSTS 1^3 

UNITED    STATES   MAIL-CART 167 

CENTRAL   PARK   AND   HOTEL   INGLATERRA 173 

THE   PRESENT   POST-OFFICE  BUILDING 175 

HAVANA   HARBOR    FROM    MORRO   CASTLE              179 

RELIEF   BUREAU    IN   SAN    LAZARO    STREET 187 

PERFECTO   LACOSTE,  NEW  MAYOR   OF   HAVANA I92 

ERNEST   LEE   CONANT,    CHAIRMAN    HAVANA    FINANCE    COMMISSION.  I95 

FELIX   YZNAGA,   SECRETARY   TO   THE   MUNICIPALITY I99 

HAVANA'S   STEAM-DUMMY    STREET-CAR    LINE 204 

OLD   GUNS   ON   FORT   MORRO   CASTLE 207 

PICTURESQUE    SIDE  OF   THE   CAMP    OF   THE    TENTH    REGULARS   ON 

THE   PRADO,   HAVANA 211 

TENTH     REGULARS    UNLOADING    WOOD    FOR    THE    CAMP    ON   THE 

PRADO,    HAVANA 217 

MULE  TRAIN  COMING  INTO  PINAR  DEL  RIO  FROM  THE  MOUNTAINS.  225 
CIVIL   PRISONERS  MADE   TO  WORK   ON   THE  STREETS  OF  PINAR   DEL 

RIO 23O 

TOWN   MILKMAN   IN    PINAR   DEL   RIO 235 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL  GEORGE  W.   DAVIS,  U.  S.  V.,  AND  MEMBERS  OF 

HIS   STAFF   IN    FRONT   OF   HIS   HEADQUARTERS 237 

COUNTRY   NEAR     PINAR    DEL    RIO  —  AMERICAN     MILITARY    CAMP   IN 

THE   DISTANCE 24I 

A    FIELD   OF    THE    FJNEST   TOBACCO     IN    THE   WORLD,    NEAR    PINAR 

DEL    RIO 243 

GENERAL  JAMES   H.   WILSON 247 

TKREE   DAYS'   FIESTA   AT   MATANZAS         , 25 1 

DECORATIONS   IN    MATANZAS   DURING   THE  THREE   DAYS'    FIESTA      .  255 

xi 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

governor's  palace,  and  plaza  de  armas,  matanzas  ....  262 

view  on  the  san  juan  river  at  matanzas  .     .     ., 266 

"oh!  holy  heavens!" 269 

where  the  famous  mule  was  killed 27i 

water-supply  in  a  village  in  santa  clara  province  .    .    .  279 

typical  cuban  town  as  seen  from  the  railroad      ....  285 
court-yard   in   a   hotel   in  santa  clara — said    to   be  the 

cleanest  hotel  on  the  island 293 

general  leonard  wood 299 

morro  castle  —  the  cell  in  which  lieutenant  hobson  was 

imprisoned 303 

a  mule-train  in  santiago 307 

the  custom-house 31 1 

a  typical  cuban  woman 315 

camp  of  the  tenth  regulars  on  the  prado 323 

watching  the  guard-mount 328 

general  fitz-hugh  lee 333 

american  military  camp  at  matanzas 339 

bringing  in  the  cane  from  the  fields 347 

river  steamboat,  tug,  and  sugar-lighter  at  the  landing, 

constancia  plantation 353 

locomotive  in  central  railroad  yard,   constancia   sugar- 
plantation  356 

cutting  sugar-cane,   showing  the  cane  stripped  for  cart- 
ing in  the  foreground 359 

tobacco  drying  in  the  sun 365 

drying-house  in  a  tobacco-field 367 

expert  field-hands  at  work *  3j2 

raw  material  for  havana's  new  police  drawn  up  for  drill.  377 

JOHN   McCULLAGH .  379 

MAJOR   EVANS,  U.    S.   V 380 

THE  MOUNTED   POLICE .  381 

GENERAL   MARIO   MENOCAL          ....  383 

GENERAL    REVIEW   OF   THE    FORCE  —  GENERAL   CARDENAS   AT   THE 

HEAD 385 

CLUB   DRILL   OF   THE   FOURTH    BATTALION — "PRESENT   ARMS  *''    .      .  389 

xii 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 


•  »>.»    ••»„ 


THE   NEW-BORN  CUBA 


CHAPTER   I 

HAVANA    UNDER    AMERICAN    MILITARY    RULE 

WHATEVER  shall  be  the  final  outcome  of  the 
military  occupation  of  the  island  of  Cuba  by 
the  United  States — whether  complete  inde- 
pendence of  the  people  of  the  island,  or  annexation  in 
some  form  to  the  United  States — the  first  sixty  days  of 
that  occupation  will  always  remain  most  interesting  and 
important.  During  the  first  two  months  of  the  stay  of 
the  American  army  in  the  island,  for  the  declared  pur- 
pose of  pacifying  the  country  and  establishing  a  stable 
government  by  the  people  of  Cuba,  a  vast  and  extensive 
governmental  machinery  was  set  in  operation.  It  in- 
volved enormous  labor  and  great  tact.  It  required  pa- 
tience, courage,  and  a  shrewd  business  foresight. 

In  those  two  months  the  momentous  task  of  recon- 
structing a  foreign  land  was  begun.  It  was  a  land  cursed 
by  centuries  of  misrule,  whose  chief  characteristics  were 
corruption,  disease,  and  filth,  and  this  misrule  was  prac- 
tised upon  a  nervous,  volatile  people,  polite,  and  in  most 
respects  gentle,  and  as  keen  mentally,  from  the  most  in- 
A  1 


.:.    ,       T-HB;NEW-BORN    CUBA 

tdleptua4;and*j-efined.  to 'the  most  ignorant  and  brutal, 
as1  prbt>UbTy ' exists"  anywhere  in  the  world.  Not  until 
one  examines  minutely  the  work  that  was  established 
in  these  first  sixty  days  can  he  understand  thoroughly 
the  extent  of  the  labor  involved,  and  not  until  then  can 


A  BATTERY  OF  THE  SECOND  U.  S.  ARTILLERY  AT  GUARD  MOUNT,  CAPTAIN- 
GENERAL'S   PALACE 


he  appreciate  the  devotion  to  duty  of  our  officials — a  de- 
votion that  required  the  burning  of  lamps  by  hundreds 
of  men  night  after  night  until  long  after  midnight— and 
what  it  has  meant,  and  will  mean,  for  the  island  of  Cuba. 


UNDER   AMERICAN    MILITARY    RULE 

Interest  in  American  military  occupation  of  Cuba  cen- 
tred first  of  all  and  chiefly  in  Havana.  The  moment  we 
stepped  upon  the  wharf  at  the  landing,  one  night  early 
in  February,  1899,  we  needed  no  visual  proof  to  know 
that  we  were  in  Havana.  An  odor,  which  only  such  a 
city  could  produce,  and  a  description  of  which  need  not 
be  given,  reached  our  nostrils.  It  came  from  a  sewer 
which  runs  directly  under  the  Custom-house,  and  which 
had  been  one  of  the  most  deadly  agents  of  infection  in 
the  city.  Then  came  a  dash  in  a  carriage  through  the 
narrow  streets  of  the  older  part  of  the  city,  past  ware- 
houses, past  the  captain-general's  palace,  up  one  of  the 
business  streets  of  the  town,  with  its  glittering  shops, 
and  then  we  came  to  the  attractive  park  in  the  centre 
of  town,  about  two -thirds  the  size  of  Union  Square 
in  New  York  City,  called  Central  Park,  alongside  of  which 
the  celebrated  Prado  runs,  and  around  which  centres 
the  life  of  the  city  at  night.  Electric  lights  made  the 
place  very  bright,  and  the  garish  colors  of  the  buildings, 
accentuating  the  arcades  and  columns  and  arches  and 
barred  windows,  with  the  lights  of  hundreds  of  cabs 
speeding  in  various  directions,  and  the  babel  of  voices 
from  the  crowded  caf£s,  made  a  night-picture  such  as 
probably  only  Havana  could  show. 

Two  sentries  in  the  uniform  of  the  United  States  sol- 
diers, stepping  smartly  down  a  side  street,  gave  us  our 
first  glimpse  of  the  meaning  of  American  occupation  of 
a  foreign  land,  and  then  we  stopped  at  our  hotel  just  as 
the  notes  from  a  chorus  in  "  La  Traviata"  rang  out  upon 
the  air  from  an  adjoining  theatre.  I  had  caught  a 
glimpse  of  no  less  than  three  balls  on  my  drive,  and  as  I 

3 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

stepped  to  the  sidewalk  and  bumped  my  way  into  the 
hotel,  I  realized  that  the  walks  in  the  central  part  of  town 
were  crowded  with  pedestrians.  The  city  seemed  to  have 
the  gayety  of  a  Paris  and  the  activity  of  a  London.  A 
mere  glance  showed  that  it  was  frivolous  and  happy,  and 
that  the  scars  of  war,  if  there  were  any,  were  hidden. 

The  streets  were  intensely  interesting  to  a  new  arrival. 
They  were  lined  with  sidewalk  cafes ;  throngs  were  pass- 
ing up  and  down  ;  one  caught  the  sound  of  more  English 
than  Spanish  in  the  hum  of  conversation  ;  hundreds  of 
men  in  the  American  army  uniform  were  seen,  and  soon 
the  notes  of  a  bugle  in  the  camp  of  half  a  dozen  compa- 
nies of  the  Tenth  Regular  Infantry,  encamped  upon  the 
promenade  of  the  Prado  directly  in  front  of  our  hotel, 
told  me  that  American  occupation  of  Havana  was  not 
semi-commercial,  as  it  seemed  at  first,  but  strictly  mili- 
tary. The  voices  of  street  fakirs  filled  the  air  ;  boot- 
blacks were  crying  "shine"  and  "polish";  a  man  in  a 
doorway  next  to  the  great  Tacon  Theatre  was  shouting 
through  a  monster  megaphone,  in  English,  the  merits  of 
his  "  magnificent  Trilby  show,  boys  not  admitted."  A 
crowd  stood  about  the  doors  of  the  central  fire  station 
on  Central  Park,  the  modern  fire  apparatus  and  Ameri- 
can horses  to  draw  it  being  a  constant  source  of  wonder- 
ment and  pride  to  the  citizens. 

That  night  was  a  busy  one  in  the  well-known  cafe  of 
the  Inglaterra  Hotel.  At  one  table  were  Captain  Sigs- 
bee  and  a  party  of  friends  ;  at  another  sat  Robert  P. 
Porter,  fresh  from  his  interview  with  General  Gomez,  in 
which  he  had  won  the  famous  old  man  over  to  the  idea 
of  temporary  occupation  of  the  island  by  the  Americans, 

4 


ENTH   REGULAR   INFANTRY,  HAVANA'S  TEMPORARY   POLICE  DEPART- 
MENT, IN    CAMP   ON   THE   PRADO 


i  •  •  •  • 


UNDER   AMERICAN    MILITARY    RULE 

and  proudly  exhibiting  to  his  intimate  friends  a  telegram 
of  congratulation  from  the  President  and  Secretary  Hay 
over  the  success  of  his  mission.  Senator  Proctor  passed 
through  with  another  party  of  friends,  and  there  were 
generals  and  colonels  and  captains  and  lieutenants  enough 
for  a  small  army  seated  at  the  tables  or  passing  in  and 
out.  Over  in  Central  Park  hundreds  were  seated  in 
chairs,  from  which  the  city  collects  a  revenue  of  ten  cents 


THE  HOTEL  INGLATERRA  AND  CENTRAL  PARK 


a  sitting,  listening  to  the  music  that  came  from  the  ball- 
rooms of  two  of  the  clubs  that  face  upon  the  park. 
Newsboys  were  darting  about,  cabs  were  hurrying  hither 
and  thither  ;  and  as  one  walked  about,  dozens  of  little 
wizen-faced  children,  scantily  clad,  but  with  the  air  of 
professional  beggars  stamped  upon  their  manners,  thrust 
their  hands  into  one's  face  and  asked  for  pennies.  Every 

7 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

kind  of  head-gear  was  in  evidence,  from  the  Derby  and 
tall  hats  of  perspiring  Americans  to  the  light  straw  hats 
of  the  natives  and  the  helmets  of  the  tourist  in  the 
tropics.  Here  and  there  professional  beggars  carried 
naked  babies  about,  in  the  hope  of  catching  pennies  from 
Americans  overladen  with  riches,  and  occasionally  a 
woman  in  widow's  weeds  passed  along,  telling  a  story  to 
the  imagination  of  the  horrors  of  reconcentration  under 
the  butcher  Weyler.  Ticket  -  speculators  were  selling 
admissions  to  the  separate  acts  to  the  opera  in  the  Thea- 
tre Payret,  and  snatches  of  conversation  were  heard  of 
Americans  planning  to  get  an  option  on  this  or  that 
public  works,  or  arranging  to  enter  into  some  business 
venture,  provided  there  was  assurance  of  a  stable  gov- 
ernment. There  were  said  to  be  no  fewer  than  eight 
thousand  Americans  in  town  even  at  that  time. 

The  first  thing  to  impress  an  observant  visitor  to  Ha- 
vana as  he  went  about  the  town  was  the  fact  that  the 
streets  were  really  clean.  In  the  first  week  of  February, 
when  I  first  saw  them,  one  month  after  American  occupa- 
tion began,  I  found  them  as  clean  as  the  streets  of  New 
York,  especially  under  Tammany  rule.  Another  thing 
that  was  a  great  surprise  was  to  find  that  the  water  of 
the  harbor  seemed  even  cleaner  than  that  of  New  York 
Harbor.  I  remember  that  I  spoke  especially  of  this  to 
General  Ludlow,  the  military  governor  of  the  city  and 
suburbs.     I  said  : 

"  General,  I  crossed  the  harbor  this  morning,  and  was 
surprised — " 

"You  expected  to  find  the  water  of  Havana  Harbor,"  in- 
terrupted the  general,  "precisely  like  the  Chicago  River." 

8 


MAJOR-GENERAL   WILLIAM   LUDLOW,   U.  S.  V.,  MILITARY   GOVERNOR 
OF   THE  CITY   OF   HAVANA 


•  •  • 
•  •  • 
.•  •   •„ 


UNDER    AMERICAN    MILITARY   RULE 

"  Exactly  !"  I  exclaimed. 

"And  you  found  it  as  clean,  if  not  cleaner,  than  the 
water  in  New  York  Harbor,"  was  his  response.  And  it 
was  true.  Another  thing  to  attract  instant  attention  in 
the  city  was  that  our  soldiers,  who  were  doing  police 


H|^^,     "• 

1 1  IE 

tl! 

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"ft 

A    HAVANESE    HAWKER 


duty  with  loaded  rifles  temporarily,  were  respected  every- 
where and  obeyed  instantly.  The  duty  was  irksome  to 
them,  and  they  rebelled  inwardly  against  it,  but  on  all 
sides  there  were  quiet  and  order  and  a  full  disposition  by 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

all  the  people  to  make  the  best  of  the  new  situation. 
Still  another  thing  to  arrest  attention  was  the  fact  that 
the  horses,  and  even  the  dogs,  of  the  street  were  in  good 
physical  condition.  By  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  the 
streets  were  lively  with  drays  that  were  ungainly  and 
unwieldy,  and  that  filled  up  almost  the  entire  narrow 
highways  in  the  business  part  of  the  town.  The  mules 
which  drew  the  drays  were  wiry  little  animals,  and  looked 
as  much  out  of  place  drawing  those  enormous  carts  as  a 
boy  does  in  his  father's  clothes.  A  bunch  of  sleigh-bells 
attached  to  the  collar  of  each  harness,  and  long  thick 
tassels  of  bright  colors  depending  from  the  necks  and 
flanks  of  the  mules,  were  fitting  accompaniments  to  the 
gaudy  red  Tarn  o'  Shanters  of  many  of  the  Canary-Island- 
ers who  drove  the  carts.  The  combination  of  noise  and 
color  accomplished  the  object  of  the  drivers,  which  was 
to  attract  attention  to  themselves,  and  fulfil  that  ardent 
desire,  met  everywhere  in  Cuba,  to  occupy  the  centre  of 
the  stage,  so  to  speak.  As  the  hot  sun  sent  its  beams 
down  through  the  narrow  streets,  with  sidewalks  just 
wide  enough  to  be  simply  a  stepping-stone  from  a  car- 
riage to  a  shop,  clerks  and  porters  appeared  at  doorways,. 
and  began  to  stretch  the  awnings  across  the  ropes  and 
wires  that  ran  from  building  to  building,  thus  shading 
the  highways,  a  sight  common  in  many  old  tropical  and 
semi-tropical  cities.  All  about  the  open  space  near  the 
Custom-house  drays  were  drawn  up  in  large  numbers, 
and  in  every  quarter  business  dealings  were  in  full  opera- 
tion. 

The  only  sign  that    there   had  been   a  war  was  the 
American  and  Cuban  flags  flying  from  hundreds  of  build- 

12 


UNDER   AMERICAN    MILITARY    RULE 

ings,  and  American  soldiers  going  about  the  streets  on 
their  sentry  beats.  In  walking  down  to  the  water-front 
on  my  way  to  General  Ludlow's  headquarters  I  passed 
into  a  foul-smelling  narrow  highway  within  three  min- 
utes' walk  of  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  soon  an  armed 


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GENERAL   LUDLOW'S   HEADQUARTERS   AND   RESIDENCE 


United  States  sentry,  with  his  rifle  at  port  arms,  stopped 
me,  and  said  : 

"Americans  cannot  go  through  here,  sir." 

"Why  not?"  said  the  rapidly  rising  independent  spirit 
of  the  American  citizen. 

"  General's  orders,  that's  all." 

"  Yellow  fever  ?"  was  the  inquiry. 

13 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

"  No,  sir ;  simply  because  this  is  the  one  place  in 
Havana  where  no  American  can  possibly  have  any  busi- 
ness." 

I  took  one  glance  down  the  street,  and  saw  that  the 
general  was  right.  The  heart  of  the  sentry  softened,  and 
he  let  me  walk  with  him  to  the  corner  of  the  next  block, 
and  I  have  to  say  that  if  there  is  a  viler  place  this  side 
of  Port  Said  I  don't  know  where  it  may  be  found.  The 
episode  was  a  good  illustration  of  what  our  military  oc- 
cupation of  Havana  meant,  and  it  is  mentioned  for  that 
reason. 

During  the  first  two  months  of  our  occupation  there 
were  few  busier  places  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  than 
the  headquarters  of  General  Ludlow,  down  in  the  palace 
of  the  city  governor  on  the  water-front ;  a  fine  building 
in  a  beautiful  location,  opposite  old  Cabanas,  and  com- 
manding a  splendid  view  of  the  harbor  and  its  narrow 
entrance.  The  corridors  were  thronged,  one  might  say,. 
with  hundreds,  all  desirous  of  an  interview  with  General 
Ludlow  himself.  There  were  army  officers,  syndicate- 
hunters,  dozens  of  persons  seeking  passes  to  Morro 
Castle,  scores  of  impoverished  people  asking  for  food,, 
city  officials,  personal  friends  of  the  general,  priests,  and 
tourists.  Every  one  seemed  to  understand  that  General 
Ludlow  was  struggling  with  the  most  difficult  problem,, 
not  purely  military  in  character,  that  had  probably  ever 
been  given  to  a  United  States  army  officer,  but  each  also 
seemed  to  think  that  it  would  be  a  welcome  respite  to 
an  overworked  official  if  the  general  would  give  up  a. 
few  minutes  of  his  time  for  a  conversation  on  this  and 
that  topic,  and  especially  on  the  political  conditions  in 

H 


UNDER    AMERICAN    MILITARY    RULE 

Cuba.  It  was  necessary  for  the  general  to  hide  him- 
self up  a  narrow  winding  staircase,  with  two  sentries  at 
the  bottom,  and  an  aide  in  an  outer  office,  whose  chief 
business  it  was  to  act  the  part  of  a  private  secretary  and 
keep  callers  away  from  his  superior. 

A  cursory  examination  of  General  Ludlow's  task  was 
sufficient  to  show  that  if  he  succeeded  in  his  work  of  re- 
generating Havana  he  would  leave  for  himself  a  monu- 
ment that  will  last  for  all  time.  It  was  also  sufficient 
to  show  that  he  had  the  work  well  in  hand,  and  that  if 
he  was  left  alone  he  would  accomplish  it.  He  not  only 
had  to  attend  to  his  military  duties  as  Governor  of  the 
city,  but  he  had  to  feed  the  starving,  to  clean  the  city 
outside  and  inside,  to  take  the  responsibility  of  putting 
off  for  nearly  a  year  the  work  of  sewering  the  city,  to 
disarm  the  volunteers  of  Havana,  to  study  the  problem 
of  reform  of  taxation,  and  to  keep  the  city  municipal 
machinery  in  motion,  so  as  not  to  permit  the  military 
occupation  of  the  city  to  become  offensive  to  the  people. 
How  well  he  was  accomplishing  this  task  will  be  seen 
in  detail  in  other  chapters  of  this  story  of  reconstruc- 
tion. 

In  common  with  a  host  of  other  American  citizens,  I 
had  felt  a  sense  of  disappointment  that  General  Fitz- 
hugh  Lee  had  not  been  placed  in  direct  charge  of  affairs 
in  Havana.  Without  any  disparagement  to  General  Lee, 
it  is  proper  for  me  to  remark  that,  after  studying  Gen- 
eral Ludlow's  work,  I  became  convinced  that  no  mistake 
was  made  in  placing  this  reserved,  keen,  apparently  un- 
sympathetic army  engineer,  than  whom  there  was  prob- 
ably no  better  equipped  expert  in  sanitary  matters  in 
b  17 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  United  States,  in  charge  of  this  momentous  work. 
He  was  bearing  the  hardest  kind  of  a  "white  man's 
burden,"  and  if,  in  addition,  he  was  playing  for  the 
stakes  of  lasting  reputation  in  the  esteem  of  his  coun- 
trymen and  in  history,  it  was  that  laudable  kind  of 
ambition  that  springs  from  a  lofty  sense  of  duty,  and  a 
willingness  to  sacrifice  health  and  life  if  necessary  to  ac- 
complish it. 

It  was  pleasant  to  note  that  the  people  of  Havana 
were  co-operating  with  General  Ludlow  to  the  fullest 
extent.  There  was  friction  here  and  there,  of  course, 
but  there  was  no  disposition  not  to  obey  his  wishes  in 
every  respect.  The  people  of  Havana  accepted  the  new 
order  of  things  without  murmur.  There  was  no  sign,  as 
one  went  about  the  streets  and  attended  places  of  pub- 
lic amusement  and  talked  with  merchants  and  other 
citizens,  that  they  resented  the  domination  of  a  so-called 
"conquering  army."  There  was  no  drawing  of  skirts  by 
women  as  they  passed  American  soldiers,  no  lofty  tone 
of  superiority  by  men  as  they  went  about  their  daily 
tasks.  And  on  the  part  of  General  Ludlow  and  General 
Brooke,  the  military  Governor-General  of  the  island,  as 
well  as  every  other  military  commander  in  Cuba,  there 
was  the  manifest  disposition  to  make  the  military  occu- 
pation as  light  a  burden  as  possible,  and  in  no  sense  that 
of  a  conquering  nation.  Our  army  was  everywhere  play- 
ing the  consistent  part  of  a  sincere  ally  and  pacificator. 

It  is  only  fair,  however,  to  say  that  there  was  one  dis- 
cordant element  in  this  acceptance  of  the  situation.  It 
came  from  irresponsible,  and  sometimes  from  respon- 
sible, journals  published  in  the  city.    The  spirit  of  yellow 

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UNDER    AMERICAN    MILITARY    RULE 

journalism  seemed  to  have  descended  upon  the  town. 
There  was  a  disposition  constantly  to  forget  that  the 
island  was  under  military  rule,  and  to  nag  and  peck  at 
the  military  authorities.  In  some  cases  outrageous  crit- 
icism and  assaults  were  made  upon  our  generals — as- 
saults that  would  justify  the  immediate  suppression  of 
the  publications  ;  but  it  was  a  tribute  to  the  patience 
and  good  sense  of  our  generals  that  they  ignored  them 
publicly,  although  privately  they  chafed  a  good  deal  un- 
der them,  and  chose  to  regard  them  as  mere  mosquito 
or  flea  bites,  the  most  common  causes  of  personal  irrita- 
tion in  the  island. 

Probably  the  most  striking  signs  of  American  mili- 
tary occupation,  outside  of  the  actual  presence  of  our 
soldiers,  were  the  placards  posted  up  in  every  cafe*  and 
drinking-place  in  the  city  to  the  effect  that  by  order  of 
General  Ludlow  positively  no  alcoholic  liquors  were  to 
be  sold  to  our  soldiers.  The  order  was  obeyed  almost 
literally,  but  occasionally  a  soldier  could  be  seen  under 
the  influence  of  liquor — the  only  drunken  persons  to  be 
seen  on  the  streets,  for  the  people  of  Cuba  do  not  get 
drunk.  Everywhere  in  Havana  there  were  brilliant  lith- 
ographs advertising  various  brands  of  American  beer. 
It  was  a  wonder  that  some  enterprising  agent  had  not 
plastered  the  sides  of  Morro  Castle  with  these  signs. 
One  would  think,  from  the  number  of  them  in  town, 
that  we  were  simply  a  nation  of  beer  -  guzzlers.  One 
noted  with  satisfaction,  to  offset  this,  that  in  many  of 
the  shops  there  were  signs,  "  English  Spoken  Here,"  and 
American  bicycle  -  stores,  type  -  writing  establishments, 
haberdashery  stores,  were  a  pleasant  relief  to  "Greater 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

New  York  Cafes,"  "St.  Louis  Cabinets,"  and  "Chicago 
Retreats,"  that  had  sprung  up  on  all  sides.  The  Amer- 
ican occupation  of  Havana  came  home  to  me  with  a  jar 
one  day  when  I  was  passing  through  busy  Obispo  Street, 
as  I  read  this  sign : 

STOP,    AMERICANS! 

CHEWING-GUM  SOLD  HERE! 

Ten  Cents  a  Package  ! 

It  was  not  wise  to  take  too  seriously  the  sign  "  English 
Spoken  Here."  The  interpreter  frequently  lived,  or  did 
business,  half  a  block  away,  and  sometimes  he  could  not 
be  found.  When  he  did  arrive,  his  English  was  likely 
to  correspond  to  an  advertisement  that  I  saw  at  the  en- 
trance to  a  barber  -  shop.  It  read :  "  Very  good  works 
made  here."  Here  is  the  advertisement  of  an  "Ameri- 
can restaurant,"  taken  from  its  business  card  : 

This  first  class  of  establishment  offeir  the  public,  rooues  with 

every  confort  and  convinience  for  accommodation  of  permaent 

anf  trancient  guest. 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  more  trouble  with 
spelling  than  with  syntax  in  that  sentence.  Here  is  an 
extract  from  a  circus  handbill  printed  in  "  English": 

Special  collection  of  train  dogs  introducing  Dommestical  Dogs 
and  ETC  presented  by  Mr.  Antoni  Pubillones. 

And  so  the  American  military  occupation  of  Havana 
unfolded  itself  to  the   visitor.     Americans  were  to  be 

22 


UNDER    AMERICAN    MILITARY    RULE 

seen  everywhere.  There  were  adventurers,  tourists, 
business  men,  investors,  men  and  women  of  every  kind, 
from  the  United  States,  but  actual  crooks — John  McCul- 
lagh,  in  charge  of  the  formation  of  a  modern  police  force 
for  Havana,  sent  home  the  first  arrivals  of  American 
crooks,  and  the  word  was  passed  to  the  others  to  stay 
away.  Then  there  were  the  sights  of  the  town  to  be 
looked  after.  The  bullet-hole  in  the  mirror  of  the  In- 
glaterra  Hotel,  where  the  correspondent  of  an  American 
newspaper  was  shot  at  just  before  the  Spanish  evacu- 
ation, and  the  famous  "  dead-line "  at  Cabanas  fortress, 
were  alike  the  source  of  great  interest  to  Americans. 
The  bootblack  who  sat  down  and  smoked  as  he  polished 
your  shoes,  and  then  rang  a  little  call-bell  three  times 
to  announce  that  he  was  through,  and  afterwards,  to 
amuse  you,  puffed  out  his  cheeks,  bowed  his  arms  far 
out  in  front  of  him,  and  jolted  himself  up  and  down  on 
his  bench,  as  he  shouted  "General  Lee!" — it  would  have 
made  the  general  himself  laugh — did  a  thriving  trade. 
The  drilling  of  the  new  police  by  John  McCullagh  at- 
tracted hundreds  to  the  Prado  daily.  There  was  guard- 
mount  to  be  seen  every  morning.  One  of  the  most  be- 
neficent results  of  our  occupation  was  the  fact — marvel- 
lous to  be  told  of  Havana  ! — that  not  an  immoral  book 
was  on  sale  in  any  of  the  book-stores.  Four  wagon-loads 
of  them  had  been  seized  and  burned  by  American  sol- 
diers. At  regular  periods  a  long  train  of  army  wagons, 
laden  with  provisions,  started  out  for  a  trip  in  the  sur- 
rounding country  to  feed  the  starving,  and  in  five  army 
depots  in  town  hundreds  of  the  hungry  were  to  be  seen 
drawing  rations  until  they  could  find  means  of  subsist- 

25 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

ence  themselves.  Every  tobacco  factory  was  running 
in  full  blast,  and  there  was  not  a  cigar-maker  in  town 
able  to  work  who  was  not  making  at  least  four  dollars 
a  day  —  a  circumstance  which  accounted  probably  for 
the  crowded  condition  of  the  cafes  in  all  parts  of  the 
town.  Now  and  then  one  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  car- 
riage with  coachman  and  footman,  and  occasionally  some 
of  the  aristocratic  ladies  of  the  city  were  to  be  seen 
shopping  at  night.  On  every  side  the  American  soldier 
was  in  evidence,  and  it  did  the  average  American  citi- 
zen good  to  note  his  uniform  dignity  and  the  respect  in 
which  he  was  held.  The  buildings,  every  window  barred 
with  thick  iron  rods,  the  interiors  disclosing  a  lavish  use 
of  marble,  seemed  to  make  the  place  a  city  of  jails  and 
fortifications. 

And  as  night  fell  with  a  sudden  blanket  of  darkness, 
and  the  lights  on  the  streets  in  buildings,  street  lamps, 
and  in  hundreds  of  cabs  dashing  about  like  so  many  fire- 
flies, came  out ;  as  the  throngs  appeared  on  the  streets, 
and  the  sound  of  music  reached  the  ear  from  the  public 
square — one  of  the  most  unattractive  of  all  the  plazas 
in  Cuba — and  scores  of  masked  women  were  seen  riding 
to  a  dozen  balls,  it  was  interesting  to  stand  on  some 
balcony  and  watch  the  attractive  and  seductive  life  of 
the  place.  The  light  on  old  Morro,  across  the  entrance 
of  the  harbor,  shot  its  beams  up  the  Prado,  over  the  long 
rows  of  Indian  laurel-trees  that  line  the  promenade  of 
that  famous  street,  and  it  was  easy  not  to  notice  the 
beggars,  who,  after  all,  the  children  eliminated,  were  not 
more  numerous  than  along  Park  Row  in  New  York  in 
the  summer-time  at  night,  and  it  was  difficult  to  realize 

26 


UNDER    AMERICAN    MILITARY    RULE 

that  the  city  had  felt  the  horrors  of  war  in  the  starva- 
tion of  thousands  in  its  streets  and  public  places  only  a 
few  months  before.  The  city  was  brilliant,  happy,  and 
there  was  only  an  occasional  odor  here  and  there  to  re- 
mind one  that  it  was  not  yet  entirely  clean. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    CUBA  OF    1899 — THE  POLITICAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL    SITU- 
ATION— THE    FUTURE 

THE  saying  that  Havana  is  not  Cuba  was  never 
more  true  than  in  the  first  few  months  after  the 
war  with  Spain  had  ended.  The  war  left  few 
scars  in  Havana  and  in  the  other  cities  of  the  island 
(not  including  Santiago),  except  as  were  revealed  in 
graveyard  records,  and  in  the  applicants  at  military 
stations  for  food.  In  the  country  the  war  spread  a 
blanket  of  devastation.  As  one  went  over  the  island  on 
railroad  train  or  in  volante  or  on  horseback,  there  was 
evidence  on  every  side  that  the  war  was  one  of  torch 
and  famine  rather  than  of  powder  and  shot.  The  island 
was  simply  desolate. 

Outside  of  cities  of  impressive  architecture,  and  of 
towns  and  villages  of  huddling  hovels,  the  country,  ex- 
cept for  a  few  miles  around  the  cities  of  Santa  Clara 
and  Pinar  del  Rio,  was  bare  of  men  and  beasts,  and 
almost  bare  of  birds.  The  traveller  even  saw  few 
flowers.  Fruit  trees  were  cut  down  and  destroyed  as  a 
war  measure.  The  fertile  ground  was  rank  with  vege- 
tation. Although  the  Spaniards  had  gone  and  the  hor- 
rors of  reconcentration  were  over,  the  people  would  not 

28 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

return  to  the  country  in  the  first  few  months  of  American 
control.  There  were  no  huts  there ;  no  seed,  and  no 
tools  with  which  to  till  the  soil ;  no  cattle,  without  which 
agricultural  work  cannot  be  done  in  Cuba;   no  food; 


WARS   RUIN  AT   COL1SCO,   TWENTY-TWO    MILKS    PROM    MATANZAS 

and  so  they  stayed  in  towns  and  villages,  worked  in 
tobacco-fields  and  on  sugar-plantations  adjacent  to  cities 
and  towns,  ate  what  they  could  get,  and  wondered  what 
the  future  would  bring  forth. 

If  there  was  one  sight  more  pitiful  in  Cuba  than  any 
other,  it  was  the  women  in  black.  Frequent  as  they 
were  in  Havana,  where  perhaps  in  some  remote  part  of 
the  city  they  even  ventured  to  hold  out  their  hands  to 
you  as  you  passed — women  of  refined  appearance,  too — 
the  women  in  widow's  weeds  were  the  commonest  sight 
in  the  small  towns  and  cities.  It  was  hard  to  tell  where 
they  got  their  mourning  garments.     It  is  no  exaggera- 

29 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

tion  to  say  that  of  a  dozen  women  on  a  street  in  any- 
Cuban  village  nine  were  in  mourning.  And  their  faces, 
sad  with  grief  and  thin  with  hunger  even  months  after 
the  war  had  ceased  ! 

But  there  was  a  look  of  hope  in  the  eyes  of  most  of  the 
widows — a  forlorn  hope,  however,  in  many  cases.  The 
maidens  early  in  the  year  were  becoming  cheerful,  and 
as  one  went  through  the  streets  he  heard  occasionally 
snatches  of  a  song  they  sung.  It  was  one  song,  one 
tune,  almost  invariably.  It  was  the  Cuban  National 
Hymn.  The  significance  of  that?  Truly  it  was  some- 
thing for  the  United  States,  engaged  in  the  work  of  re- 
construction, to  find  out ;  as  truly  as  was  the  meaning  of 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  Cuban  flags  flying  from 
huts  all  over  the  island — flags  that  it  took  bread  to  buy. 

And  then  there  was  a  still  brighter  side  to  the  picture 
— the  laughter  of  children.  I  remember  that  three  days 
after  the  reporters  reached  the  scene  of  the  Johnstown 
flood  one  of  them  began  his  story,  "  The  dogs  are  bark- 
ing again  in  Johnstown,"  meaning  that  normal  condi- 
tions were  returning.  So  I  might  say  of  Cuba,  the  chil- 
dren were  laughing  and  playing  again.  One  could  hear 
their  shouts  everywhere.  On  the  streets  and  open  spaces 
it  was  "One  Strike,"  "Foul,"  "Third  base,"  "Slide,"  as 
they  played  baseball  furiously,  and  used  American  terms 
exclusively.  At  night,  in  the  plazas  of  the  cities,  they 
played  the  Cuban  game  for  ring-around-a-rosy  to  the 
music  of  American  military  bands.  It  was  one  of  the 
commonest  sights  in  Matanzas  to  see  an  American 
soldier  trailing  through  the  streets  with  two  or  three 
children,  perhaps  one  perched  on  his  shoulders,  trading 

30 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

English  for  Spanish  words.  The  Spanish  soldiers  struck 
the  children.  Some  of  them  the  Spaniards  maimed  out 
of  pure  wantonness.  The  American  soldiers  coddled 
them,  played  with   them,  and  everywhere  you  went  it 


TYPICAL    PEASANTS    Hol'Sli,   OUTSKIRTS   OP    MATANZAS 


was  "Good-bye,"  meaning  "  How  do  you  do?"  from  the 
lips  of  the  children  when  they  recognized  you  as  an 
American,  and  your  hand  stole  into  your  pockets  for 
pennies  instinctively. 

Never  shall  I  forget  how  I  was  stumbling  at  night  about 
a  gloomy  street  in  Matanzas,  looking  for  General  James 
H.  Wilson's  palace — I  had  lost  my  way — when  an  urchin 
of  eight  loomed  up  right  in  front  of  me  and  halted  me. 

3i 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

"Good-bye!"  he  said. 

"  Good-bye  !"  I  replied. 

"  Good-night !"  he  said. 

"Good-night!"  I  said. 

Then  taking  off  his  cap,  the  lad  swung  it  in  the  air,  and 
cried,  "  Dree  cheer  for  de  red,  white,  and  blue  !" 

Lukewarm  as  I  had  tried  to  be  about  annexation,  I 
could  have  caught  that  boy  in  my  arms  and  hugged  him, 
had  he  not  darted  away  in  a  burst  of  merriment. 


ROYAL   PALM-TREES   AND    BLOCK-HOUSE   NEAR   MATANZAS 


As  one  went  through  the  island  and  caught  glimpses 
of  block-houses  surrounding  every  settlement,  big  and 
little,  and  as  his  eye  lighted  upon  the  enlarged  grave- 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

yards  in  every  village  and  town,  some  idea  of  the  horrors 
of  the  kind  of  war  that  was  practised  in  Cuba  came  to 
his  mind.  I  must  have  seen  seventy-five  graveyards  on 
my  trip  in  the  various  provinces,  and  I  remember  only 
one  that  was  not  enlarged  because  of  the  famine  of  the 
war.  Major-General  James  H.  Wilson  told  me  that  the 
story  of  the  horrors  of  reconcentration  had  been  only 
partly  told.  It  was  far  worse  than  the  people  of  the  United 
States  had  believed.  The  pen  of  a  trained  historian 
alone  can  do  that  story  of  death  by  famine  and  military 
wantonness  justice.  Competent  judges  asserted  that 
the  island  was  nearly  200,000  men  short.  In  most  of  the 
provinces  the  birthrate  was  less  than  one-half  of  what  it 
was  before  the  war.  The  island  was  stripped  of  cattle. 
In  Matanzas,  a  province  chiefly  given  to  the  cattle- 
raising  industry,  there  were  298,000  cattle,  according  to 
a  census,  in  1894.  When  the  war  ceased  there  were 
fewer  than  9000  cattle  in  the  province — a  region  that 
could  support  1,000,000  cattle  with  ease. 

And  yet  the  sunshine  of  prosperity  was  breaking 
through  the  clouds.  One  could  see  in  the  distances, 
especially  in  the  provinces  of  Pinar  del  Rio  and  Ma- 
tanzas, the  smoke  of  numerous  charcoal-burners.  These 
pillars  of  smoke  had  taken  the  place  of  the  smoke  of  war. 
They  suggested  only  by  contrast  the  burning  of  towns  and 
villages  and  plantations.  At  railroad  stations  children  and 
women  held  out  their  hands  in  mute  appeals  for  charity, 
but  that  was  a  vast  improvement  upon  the  scenes  of 
burials  by  the  hundreds  and  thousands  because  of  star- 
vation. Here  and  there,  through  the  blanket  of  devas- 
tation spread  by  war,  the  crops  were  springing  up.  This 
C  33 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

was  especially  true  for  a  dozen  miles  around  the  city  of 
Santa  Clara,  almost  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the  island, 
and  in  the  district  immediately  surrounding  the  town  of 
Pinar  del  Rio,  the  centre  of  the  tobacco -growing  in- 


BURNEU    SUGAR-REFINERY    AT   CAMPO    FLORIDO 

dustry.  Although  railroad  stations  and  bridges  were 
destroyed,  and  in  many  cases  entire  towns  were  burned, 
and  although  the  tangled  wrecks  of  twisted  iron  and 
charred  timbers  of  sugar  factories  confronted  one  fre- 
quently, gaunt  spectres  of  the  war  and  companion  pict- 
ures in  the  scene  of  ruin  to  the  enlarged  graveyards,, 
here  and  there  could  be  seen  late  in  February  the  smoke 
of  returned  business  activity  pouring  from  the  chimney 
of  a  sugar-central,  preserved  from  destruction  only  by 
bribing  both  Spaniards  and  Cubans,  or  by  the  vigilance 
of  an  armed  force  raised  to  protect  the  central  at  enor- 
mous cost,  in  many  cases  of  considerable  bloodshed  as 

34 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

well.  On  many  freight  sidings  carloads  of  sugar-cane 
could  be  seen,  their  destination  being  the  grinding-mills. 
Fields  of  tobacco  were  spreading  their  beautiful  green 
mantle  in  the  western  end  of  the  island.  It  was  esti- 
mated that  about  one-half  of  a  normal  crop  was  being 
raised  of  sugar  and  tobacco,  upon  which,  especially 
sugar,  the  life  of  Cuba  depends.  Although  it  was  dreary 
to  see  the  great  stretches  of  unoccupied  fertile  country, 
land  as  rich  as  can  be  found  anywhere,  it  was  a  satisfac- 
tion to  realize  that  the  worst  was  over  and  that  the  up- 
building process  had  actually  begun.  The  country  was 
in  a  passive  state.  There  was  practically  no  crime  and 
no  disorder  in  the  land.     The  condition  of  Cuba  was  that 


SttlAK-RKl  IM.RY    IN    OPERATION    LATE    IN    FEBRUARY 


of  a  person  restored  to  consciousness  after  being  stunned, 
but  with  scarcely  more  than  enough  strength  to  totter 
about. 

The  irresistible  conviction  was  soon  forced  upon  the 
student   of   the    situation    in  Cuba    that  what  the   isl- 

35 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

and  needed  most  was  men  and  money.  Involved  in 
the  problem  of  securing  them  was  the  larger  problem  of 
the  political  future  of  the  country.  The  normal  increase 
in  the  population  cannot  supply  the  island's  need  of  men 


THE   CUBAN    SOLDIER    AS    HE   WAS    AFTER   THE    WAR 

for  many,  many  years.  Immigrants,  such  as  Can  endure 
the  climate  and  can  work  to  advantage  in  it,  must  come 
probably  from  the  Canary  Islands,  or  from  Italy,  rather 
than  from  the  Southern  States  of  this  country.  The  tide 
of  needed  immigration,  however,  cannot  set  towards 
Cuban  shores  until  there  is  reasonable  assurance  of  the 
protection  of  human  life  ;  and  capital,  always  timid,  will 
not  seek  investment  there  until  there  is  a  full  guarantee 
from  destruction  or  from  serious  injury. 

36 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

The  passive  state  of  Cuba  was  due  in  some  degree  to 
its  commercial  and  political  prostration,  but  to  a  greater 
degree  probably  to  the  military  occupation  there.  In 
all  the  large  cities  the  United  States  army  was  in  con- 
trol. In  every  small  town  and  in  every  village  the  Cuban 
soldiers  were  in  charge.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
actions  of  the  Cuban  soldiers  in  and  about  Santiago 
during  the  campaign  there,  little  reasonable  fault  could 
be  found  with  them  after  the  Spaniards  went  home. 
They  moved  into  the  towns  and  villages,  preserved  the 
peace  invariably,  and  brought  about  a  condition  of  order. 
They  worked  in  perfect  harmony  with  our  forces  after 
these  arrived,  and  their  commanders  detailed  their  men 
in  accordance  with  suggestions  from  our  generals  and 
military  governors.  They  worked  without  pay,  and  they 
got  their  food  and  clothing  as  best  they  could.  They 
practised  no  tyranny,  and  showed  no  spirit  of  hostility 
to  American  occupation. 

Many  were  the  complaints  because  they  did  not  throw 
down  their  arms  and  go  to  work  when  the  island  needed 
laborers  sorely,  but  there  was  another  side  to  that.  They 
had  been  fighting  for  three  years,  with  little  food  and 
clothing,  in  their  own  peculiar  kind  of  warfare — a  war- 
fare that  our  rank  and  file  could  neither  understand  nor 
appreciate — and  they  were  still  under  orders  from  their 
superiors.  To  throw  down  their  arms  would  have  been 
a  form  of  desertion,  and  at  a  time  when  there  was  pros- 
pect of  receiving  a  gift  of  money  from  the  United  States 
— money  that  was  absolutely  necessary  to  start  most  of 
them  in  life  again.  If  there  was  any  fault  to  be  found 
with  the  Cuban  army,  it  was  with  the  mysterious  in- 

37 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

crease  of  about  20,000  in  its  numbers,  and  the  Cubans 
themselves  showed  that  they  were  not  lacking  in  humor 
as  they  referred  to  these  so-called  soldiers  as  the  "vet- 
erans of  1899."  As  one  saw  these  Cuban  soldiers  patroll- 
ing at  railroad  stations,  doing  guard  duty  at  sugar  fac- 
tories, going  through  the  country  with  American  officers 
on  hunts  for  bandits  that  swooped  down  into  towns  oc- 
casionally and  stole  horses,  a  sense  of  respect  for  them 
•was  uppermost,  despite  the  sneers  that  one  heard  from 


A  TYPICAL   CUBAN   VILLAGE 


many  Americans  who  based  their  judgment  upon  the 
episodes  around  Santiago.  I  could  not  but  think  that 
perhaps  the  Cuban  soldiers  had  been  as  much  misunder- 
stood as  the  Cuban  people  had  been  by  many  of  our  peo- 
ple, who  referred  to  them  with  contempt  as  "  Dagoes," 

38 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

and  I  recalled  the  words  of  Mr.  E.  G.  Rathbone,  our 
Director  of  Posts  in  Cuba,  who  had  unusual  oppor- 
tunities for  the  observation  of  the  masses  there,  and  who 
said  to  me,  with  the  privilege  of  quoting  him  : 

"  The  people  of  the  United  States  have  a  wrong  im- 
pression of  the  Cubans.  They  are  kind,  gentle,  tracta- 
ble, and  easy  to  get  along  with.  By  kindness  you  can 
do  anything  in  the  world  with  them.  I  have  studied 
them  closely,  and  that  is  my  belief." 

Whatever  may  have  been  their  personal  opinions  as  to 
the  future  of  Cuba,  not  one  of  our  generals  swerved  in 
the  least  from  making  it  plain  to  the  people  that  our  oc- 
cupation was  to  be  only  temporary.  I  know  whereof  I 
write,  for  I  talked  fully  and  freely  with  every  one  of  our 
major-generals  in  the  island,  with  one  exception,  but  I 
am  not  at  liberty  to  quote  their  words.  Major-General 
Wilson,  in  Matanzas,  publicly  made  a  declaration  to  this 
effect,  however,  on  several  occasions.  He  held  to  the 
strict  letter  of  the  resolutions  passed  by  Congress,  which 
declared  : 

"That  the  United  States  hereby  disclaims  any  disposition  or 
intention  to  exercise  sovereignty,  jurisdiction,  or  control  over 
said  island,  except  for  the  pacification  thereof,  and  asserts  its  de- 
termination, when  that  is  accomplished,  to  leave  the  government 
and  control  of  the  island  to  its  people." 

"  We  are  here  as  pacificators,"  General  Wilson  said,  re- 
peatedly, and  it  was  in  accordance  with  this  idea  that  in 
the  latter  part  of  January,  while  making  a  tour  through 
the  province  of  Matanzas,  he  said,  in  an  address  to  some 
school-children,  that  he  hoped  the  boys  would  grow  up  to 

39 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

be  good  and  smart  men,  and  that  some  day  one  of  them 
might  become  president  of  the  republic  of  Cuba. 

I  know  that  Governor-General  Brooke  in  the  early  part 
of  his  administration  earnestly  hoped,  and  bent  every  en- 
ergy to  the  end,  that  an  occupation  of  only  a  few  months 
might  be  necessary,  and  it  is  no  secret  that  he  would 
have  liked  to  bring  the  entire  American  army  home 
from  Cuba  before  the  rainy  season  set  in.  I  am  not 
betraying  any  confidence  when  I  say  that  he  held  the 
opinion  that  if  Cuba  should  ever  become  part  of  the 
United  States  it  must  be  through  the  open  and  declared 
request  of  the  people  of  the  island,  with  a  unanimity  of 
purpose  and  sentiment  behind  the  request.  I  know  that 
Major  -  General  Bates  held  that  the  one  way  for  the 
Cubans  to  secure  self-government  was  to  co-operate  with 
our  forces  to  the  fullest  in  the  absolute  restoration  of 
peace  and  tranquillity,  so  that  the  United  States  troops 
might  be  sent  home  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  I  know 
that  Major-General  Lee  felt  that  he  was  in  Cuba  simply 
as  a  soldier.  I  am  positive  that  Major-General  Ludlow, 
while  desirous  of  carrying  out  his  great  task  of  cleaning 
up  Havana — a  task  involving  more  than  a  year's  labor, 
even  with  the  utmost  expedition — personally  would  have 
welcomed  orders  that  would  have  taken  our  troops  out 
of  the  island,  on  the  proof  that  Cuba  was  able  to  take 
care  of  herself.  The  administration  of  Major-General 
Wood  in  Santiago  indicated  freely  and  openly  that  he 
was  in  accord  with  these  views. 

And  yet  the  United  States  forces  still  remained  in  the 
island,  and  no  one  could  tell  when  they  would  leave. 
Outwardly  the  island  was  pacified.     The  younger  army 

40 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

officers  made  no  secret  of  their  desire  to  leave  the  place. 
There  was  not  an  officer  of  thought,  however,  who  did 
not  hold  the  opinion  that  if  the  United  States  troops 
should  go  home  anarchy  at  once  would  break  out. 


MAXI.Mo    l.oMI  / 


"  We  have  pacified  the  island,"  said  one  colonel  to  me  ; 
11  now  let  us  go  home." 

"Yes,"  said  another  colonel,  "and  if  we  should  go 
home,  our  transports  would  be  lighted  out  of  the  harbor, 
if  they  should  sail  at  night,  by  the  flames  of  anarchy  ; 
but  that  is  none  of  our  business." 

From  a  thorough  study  of  the  situation  I  became  con- 
vinced that  what  the  officers  said  about  anarchy  was 
true.  Our  major  -  generals  knew  it,  and  if  they  had 
spoken  their  minds  freely  they  would  probably  have  said 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

that  unless  the  United  States  desired  to  stand  before  the 
bar  of  the  nations  of  the  world  convicted  of  leaving  a 
condition  of  affairs  worse  than  the  horrors  of  war  that 
existed  in  Cuba  before  they  went  there,  it  would  be  not 
only  one  year,  but  two  years,  and  probably  three,  before 
our  troops  could  leave  the  island.  "  Except  for  the  paci- 
fication thereof,"  the  resolutions  of  Congress  read.  The 
administration  was  compelled  to  interpret  that  clause  as 
meaning  the  permanent  pacification  thereof,  and  in  the 
full  meaning  of  that  interpretation,  no  matter  what  the 
real  purposes  of  the  administration  were,  lay  the  future 
of  the  island  of  Cuba. 

I  went  to  Cuba  with  the  earnest  purpose  of  obtaining 
any  material  that  would  be  of  service  in  controverting 
expansionist  ideas,  and  that  would  justify  the  advocacy 
of  a  prompt  relinquishment  of  the  island  to  its  own 
people.  This  is  what  I  found :  Every  person  of  the 
pro-Spanish  class,  those  who  sympathized  with  Spain 
and  hoped  she  would  defeat  the  Revolutionists,  wanted 
the  United  States  to  retain  control  of  the  island.  Only 
in  such  control  did  they  see  any  hope  of  safety  for 
themselves  and  for  their  property.  The  merchants  of 
the  island,  almost  without  exception,  wanted  American 
control,  because  only  in  that  way  did  they  see  any  as- 
surance of  stability  in  commerce,  and  any  hope  of  the 
full  development  of  the  business  possibilities  of  the 
island.  The  peasants  and  laborers,  the  men  who  lived 
in  huts  in  the  country  and  in  hovels  in  the  cities,  cared 
only  for  peace.  They  wanted  to  be  let  alone.  They  had 
been  starved  and  harried  and  driven  about.  They  are 
ignorant,  they  do  not  know  what  free  institutions  mean, 

42 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

but  they  wanted  the  kind  of  government  that  would 
leave  them  undisturbed  by  terror,  and  give  them  free- 
dom to  work  and  toil,  and  that  would  fill  no  more  grave- 
yards with  their  numbers. 

It  was  only  the  members  of  the  Cuban  army  and  the 
members  of  the  Cuban  Military  Assembly  and  their  im- 
mediate sympathizers,  so  far  as  I  could  find,  who  wanted 
complete  independence  for  the  island.  There  were  many 
earnest  and  honest  men  in  the  Cuban  Assembly,  now  a 
thing  of  the  past.  Patriots,  in  the  truest  sense,  could  be 
found  among  them.  They  were  not  strictly  a  represent- 
ative body.  One  of  them  said  to  me — a  man  who  had 
proved  his  courage  and  devotion  by  heroism  that  few 
men  would  have  displayed  : 

"  We  want  independence  for  a  year,  or  a  year  and  a 
half.  By  that  time  it  will  become  evident  that  we  can- 
not maintain  a  national  equipment,  and,  as  a  natural 
course,  we  shall  ask  the  United  States  to  save  us  from 
ourselves." 

On  every  hand  it  was  admitted  that  the  members  of 
the  Assembly  were  men  who  would  like  to  become  presi- 
dents, generals,  governors,  foreign  ministers,  and  the  in- 
timation was  not  lacking  that  the  opportunity  to  profit, 
as  the  Spaniards  had  done,  by  means  of  the  agency  of 
governmental  power  was  not  missing  among  the  hopes 
of  a  few  of  them.  They  were  denounced  by  many  as 
political  adventurers,  and  in  a  sense  they  were,  but  there 
were  many  honest  men  among  them  who  believed  that 
Cuba  could  govern  herself,  and  in  that  belief  they  were 
upheld  by  the  pronounced  attitude  of  General  Gomez. 
Early  in  the  year  it  was  clear  to  every  mind  that  Gomez 

43 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

was  the  key  to  the  situation.  The  Assembly  even  recog- 
nized it.  A  foreigner,  he  had  fought  in  two  wars  for 
Cuba,  because  he  loved  liberty  and  he  hated  Spain,  which 
once  he  served.  After  he  resigned,  at  the  request  of  the 
Assembly,  because  he  was  not  a  Cuban  and  had  no  right 
to  dictate  to  Cubans,  he  remained  the  key  to  the  situa- 
tion. I  met  him  in  Cienfuegos  while  he  was  on  his  tour 
of  triumph  through  the  island.  He  was  ill,  and  could 
scarcely  stand  more  than  a  few  minutes,  but  there  was 
that  spirit  of  command  in  his  eye  and  voice,  and  that 
moderation  and  conversation  in  his  language,  that  im- 
pressed one  as  being  characteristic  of  the  statesman 
as  well  as  of  the  crafty  soldier.  He  was  suspicious  and 
reserved  in  manner,  but  as  he  talked  with  members  of 
his  staff  in  my  presence  on  the  duties  of  the  citizen  to 
the  community,  his  voice  grew  louder  and  louder,  and 
rang  throughout  the  rooms  of  the  club  where  he  was 
stopping  with  the  resonance  of  a  commander  on  the  field. 
He  asked  me  not  to  quote  what  he  said  to  me,  but  not  in 
the  class-room  of  the  university  have  I  ever  heard  more 
profound  philosophy  as  to  the  duties  of  a  man  towards 
his  fellow-man,  or  heard  words  that  had  a  more  sincere 
ring  of  personal  disinterestedness,  than  those  he  uttered 
in  an  excited  voice  in  that  club-room.  In  an  active  ex- 
perience of  fifteen  years  as  a  newspaper  man,  I  have 
never  met  a  man  who  was  so  impressive  at  first  sight  as 
a  statesman,  in  the  broadest  sense,  and  as  a  lover  of 
liberty,  as  Maximo  Gomez.  Our  government  recognized 
the  situation  when  it  dealt  with  him  as  to  the  payment 
of  the  $3,000,000  gift  to  the  Cuban  army. 

I  should  have  liked  to  express  a  conviction  that  the 

44 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

Cuban  Assembly  could  set  up  a  stable  government,  but 
it  was  my  firm  belief  that  that  body  took  its  first  step 
towards  final  extinction  on  the  day  of  General  Garcia's 
funeral  in  Havana.  In  fact,  its  members  seemed  at  that 
time  to  try  to  commit  political  suicide  over  the  body  of 
their  former  chief.  They  abandoned  his  corpse  on  the 
street  and  left  him  to  be  buried  by  the  United  States 
authorities  because  they  could  not  have  the  place  they 
wanted  in  the  funeral  procession.  They  said  that  Gen- 
eral Brooke  had  insulted  and  slighted  them.  He  did 
nothing  of  the  kind,  as  I  shall  show  in  another  chapter. 
He  really  knew  nothing  of  what  was  going  on.  He  sat 
in  his  carriage,  and  a  man  came  to  him  and  asked  him  if 
it  was  his  desire  that  his  staff  should  go  with  him,  and 
General  Brooke  naturally  said  it  was,  and  that  was  all 
there  was  about  it  so  far  as  General  Brooke  was  con- 
cerned. Some  of  the  men  who  were  at  Garcia's  death- 
bed were  among  those  who  abandoned  the  body.  They 
made  that  worst  of  all  scenes — a  row  at  a  funeral.  They 
wanted,  undoubtedly,  the  political  distinction  of  being 
the  preferred  mourners  in  a  great  spectacular  pageant  in 
a  city  hostile  to  them,  and  when  they  thought  they  were 
slighted  they  acted  like  children. 

"  Why  did  you  do  it  ?"  I  asked  one  of  the  leaders  that 
night,  when  all  Havana  was  excited  and  it  seemed  as  if 
the  town  would  burst  into  a  riot.  u  It  will  hurt  you  with 
our  people.  There  is  nothing  Americans  dislike  more 
than  a  scene  at  a  funeral,"  I  added. 

11  We  made  a  mistake,"  he  said,  with  only  a  slight  show 
of  resentment,  "  but  we  showed  one  thing."  His  eyes 
kindled  as  he  spoke.     "We  showed  that  we  controlled 

47 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  Cuban  army,  for  every  soldier  withdrew  at  our 
order." 

The  only  response  to  that  was  a  silent  nod  of  assent. 
The  Assembly  delegate  saw  its  meaning,  and  with  spirit 
he  added  : 

11  You  do  not  believe  we  are  capable  of  governing  our- 
selves. You  surely  will  not  misrepresent  us  to  the 
American  people.  There  is  no  one  else  to  govern  if  we 
do  not." 

"I  wish,  for  your  own  sakes,"  was  the  answer,  "that 
you  could  have  shown  qualities  of  self-restraint.  How 
can  you  govern  without  that  ?" 

"  We  are  willing  to  give  the  United  States  complete 
control  of  every  kind,  except  political  annexation.  You 
may  annex  us  commercially — that  is  what  we  want  ;  but 
we  also  want  independence — in  name  at  least." 

"  In  other  words,  you  want  the  offices  and  the  oppor- 
tunities of  office,"  was  the  reply,  and  he  acquiesced. 

My  mind  went  back  to  a  Cuban  colonel  whom  I  met 
in  Santa  Clara  with  Major  John  A.  Logan,  whom  he 
was  assisting  in  establishing  a  temporary  rural  police  of 
Cuban  soldiers.  The  young  colonel  spoke  English  flu- 
ently. With  vehemence  he  declared  that  there  were 
only  two  Americans  on  the  island  who  understood  the 
situation.  One  of  them,  he  said,  was  Major  Logan  ;  I 
have  forgotten  who  the  other  man  was.  This  Cuban 
colonel  denounced  General  Bates  openly  because  the 
general  had  kept  Spanish  officials  in  office.  He  said  that 
it  was  all  that  he  and  his  companions  could  do  to  prevent 
an  uprising.  General  Bates  had  told  him  to  his  face,  he 
declared,  that  he  wanted  trained  men  in  office,  and  he 

43 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

was  not  sure  that  the  Cubans  would  be  as  satisfactory  as 
those  he  had  retained.  So  violent  did  he  become  in  his 
denunciation  that  I  turned  to  Major  Logan  and  said : 

M  I  think  we  are  not  going  to  have  an  easy  time  in 
pacifying  this  country.  Haven't  you  found  indications 
of  a  desire  for  revenge  here  and  there  ?" 

u  Revenge,  did  you  say  ?"  inquired  the  colonel,  as  he 
sprang  to  his  feet  and  pounded  the  table.  "Revenge? 
Revenge?     No!     We  want  simple  justice!" 

I  hope  I  do  that  man  no  wrong,  but  I  want  to  say  that 
if  I  were  a  former  Spanish  official  and  a  personal  enemy 
of  that  young  man,  I  would  not  be  willing  to  trust  my- 
self out  of  the  sight  of  other  men  in  his  presence.  He 
showed  plainly  that  his  ideas  of  patriotism  at  that  time 
were  limited  by  public  office  as  to  their  horizon. 

There  could  be  no  mistake  about  it,  the  war  fever  was 
still  in  the  blood  of  that  people,  so  frightfully  wronged 
and  outraged  by  Spain.  I  did  not  blame  them  for  it.  It 
was  intensely  natural  and  human  ;  but  it  was  there,  and 
the  United  States  must  take  account  of  it.  And  what 
is  of  more  importance,  perhaps,  this  country  must  also 
take  account  of  the  women  in  black  and  the  enlarged 
graveyards.  The  meaning  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
Cuban  flags  flying  from  huts,  I  confess,  I  failed  to  under- 
stand fully.  Whether  they  meant  rejoicing  because  the 
Spaniards  had  gone,  or  a  mere  natural  love  of  one's  na- 
tive land,  or  a  simple  gladness  because  war  was  over,  or  a 
deeper  feeling  of  devotion  to  the  country — a  devotion  that 
meant  strife  with  us  to  secure  full  freedom  from  foreign 
domination  —  only  the  future  can  tell.  Those  who  dis- 
played them  were  invariably  silent  as  to  their  meaning. 

5' 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

It  was  no  secret  that  a  large  amount  of  what  hostility 
there  was  to  a  long-time  American  occupation  came  from 
the  women.  The  women  suffered  most  in  Cuba.  Theirs 
is  the  burden  of  the  present  and  the  future.  The  limits 
of  grief,  especially  a  woman's  grief,  may  not  be  bounded 
geometrically.  Here  are  extracts  from  some  notes  taken 
by  General  Wilson  in  a  tour  through  his  province,  which 
he  permitted  me  to  use  : 

Santanilla. — About  800  widows,  girls,  and  helpless  children 
left  without  male  support. 

Jaguey  Grande. — About  550  destitute  widows,  besides  850 
destitute  women  and  children. 

Las  Cabezas. — There  are  now  about  300  widows  and  their 
families;   total  destitute,  from  700  to  1000. 

Bolondron. — About  450  women  and  children  without  male 
support. 

Corral  Falso. — About  ioo  widows  and  400  orphans. 

And  so  the  list  might  be  extended  to  town  after  town. 
Remember,  this  was  the  situation  in  small  towns,  mere 
villages,  and  only  in  one  province. 

Here  are  some  notes  taken  by  General  Wilson  as  to  the 
conduct  of  the  Spanish  soldiers  : 

Las  Cabezas. — After  the  people  had  planted  and  raised  crops 
the  Spanish  soldiers  would  not  permit  them  to  gather  them,  but 
took  from  them,  and  also  stole  everything  they  had — cattle,  cows, 
and  chickens. 

Bolondron. — Spanish  soldiers  stole  everything  in  sight,  and 
told  council  to  pay  for  it. 

Jaguey  Grande. — Eight  hundred  Spanish  troops  here  for 
eighteen  months  ;  left  28th  of  November;  went  to  Matanzas;  they 

52 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

robbed  the  people  of  everything  they  possessed — poultry,  live- 
stock, vegetables,  fruits — everything. 

Cuevitas. — Spanish  troops  left  here  on  December  17.  They 
stole  everything  they  could  find  every  night ;  even  broke  into 
houses. 

Cumanayagua. — About  800  to  iooo  Spanish  troops  left  here 
on  December  1 1 ;  they  stole  right  and  left  —  everything  and 
everybody. 

Macagua.— The  Spanish  soldiers  behaved  in  the  blackest  and 
worst  manner.  When  travelling  by  train  and  they  saw  a  herd  of 
cattle,  the  train  would  be  stopped,  such  quantity  as  they  needed 
for  use  would  be  killed,  and  the  remainder  ruthlessly  shot  and 
left  lying  along  the  track. 

And  that  feature  of  Spanish  conduct  could  be  extended 
indefinitely.  Let  me  make  another  quotation  from  these 
notes,  which  General  Wilson  jotted  down  roughly  : 

Nobody  seems  to  have  yet  understood  how  far-reaching  was 
the  effort  of  General  Weyler  to  starve  the  Cuban  people.  He 
took  occasion  to  send  to  every  town  a  garrison  whose  business 
it  was  to  sweep  in  all  the  cattle  and  other  live-stock,  and  con- 
sume it,  as  well  as  the  garden  products;  and  also  to  destroy  the 
bananas  in  the  field,  leaving  the  people  absolutely  without  any- 
thing to  eat  or  the  liberty  to  procure  more  by  cultivation  or 
purchase. 

In  explanation  of  the  fact  that  no  farm-houses  are  to  be  seen, 
General  Betancourt  says  that  while  the  custom  of  the  people  used 
to  be  to  live  in  the  country,  the  war  resulted  in  the  burning  and 
destruction  of  all  the  houses,  and  the  people  were  all  forced  into 
the  towns. 

To  illustrate  the  causes  for  deep  resentment  on  the 
part  of  the  Cubans  who  were  left,  and  the  possible  desire 

55 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

for  revenge  on  Spanish  sympathizers,  let  me  relate  an 
incident  of  an  aggravated  kind  told  to  me  by  an  Ameri- 
can missionary,  and  vouched  for  by  him  as  correct,  as 
the  result  of  personal  investigation.  Just  before  the 
reconcentration  order  went  into  effect  in  Santa  Clara, 
a  Spanish  lieutenant  and  a  detachment  rode  out  into 
the  country  one  morning.  They  passed  a  peasant  who 
the  lieutenant  thought  did  not  show  him  sufficient  re- 
spect. 

"  Tie  that  man  up  !"  said  the  lieutenant.  After  that 
was  done  he  said  :  "  Bring  out  his  wife  and  his  daughter 
there." 

The  soldiers  did  so.  The  girl  was  fourteen  years  old. 
Then,  by  orders,  the  soldiers  began  to  hack  at  the  man 
with  their  machetes.  The  woman  fainted.  They  re- 
vived her  ;  and  then,  as  the  missionary  told  it,  "  it  was 
hack  and  faint,  hack  and  faint,  until  the  man  was  killed." 
The  detachment  went  on,  and  the  widow  the  next  day 
came  to  town  to  ask  permission  to  give  her  husband's 
body  decent  burial  in  town.  The  Spanish  authorities 
were  very  sympathetic,  and  even  gave  her  written  per- 
mission to  do  as  she  wished.  The  lieutenant  and  detach- 
ment came  back,  just  as  the  widow  went  for  the  body. 

"  What  did  they  do  with  the  body  of  that  man  killed 
here  yesterday  ?"  asked  the  officer. 

"  Here  is  his  widow,"  said  a  man  who  was  acting  as  her 
escort,  "  and  she  has  written  permission  to  give  the  body 
burial." 

"That  is  the  way  they  treat  me,  is  it  ?"  said  the  lieuten- 
ant.    ■*  Tie  the  woman  up  !     Tie  up  her  daughter  !" 

Looking  at  the  woman  closely,  he  said,  with  a  refine- 

56 


THE    SITUATION  — THE    FUTURE 

ment  of  cruelty  that  probably  only  a  Spaniard  could 
show  :  "There  will  soon  be  another  Cuban  to  take  that 
man's  place.     Kill  her  and  her  daughter  !"  and  they  did. 

And  so,  to  conclude,  I  was  forced  to  believe  that 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  people  in  the  island  of  Cuba 
wanted  annexation  of  some  kind  to  this  country  ;  that 
the  war  fever  was  still  in  the  blood  of  the  soldiers  ;  that 
there  was  a  love  of  country  which  had  not  yet  been 
fathomed  ;  that  the  grief-stricken  women  had  a  strong 
feeling  of  resentment ;  that  the  Cuban  Assembly  and 
the  party  it  represented,  so  far  as  there  was  one,  had  not 
capacity  for  self-government  as  we  understand  it.  So  it 
might  be  said  that  the  real  desire  of  the  people  of  Cuba 
was  for  union  with  this  country.  That,  bluntly,  was 
what  they  wanted.  The  problem  was,  what  we  wanted 
to  do  about  it.  One  of  the  foremost  champions  of  the 
recent  revolution  said  to  me  : 

"  I  am  now  asking  my  people  whether  they  would  pre- 
fer freedom  under  the  American  flag  with  security,  or 
freedom  under  the  Cuban  flag  without  security." 

A  former  Spanish  Senator,  a  man  who  accepted  the 
new  order  of  things,  frankly  said  to  me  : 

"Even  if  we  were  perfectly  harmonious  here, we  could 
not  establish  a  government  for  a  long  time.  We  are  in 
a  passive  state.  There  is  no  co-ordination  of  forces  yet. 
We  must  wait  until  some  party  with  strength  comes  to  the 
front,  or  your  people  must  take  us  into  your  federation." 

Whatever  was  to  be  the  result,  it  was  evident  that 
American  occupation  was  to  last  for  some  time.  If  there 
should  arise  a  final  determination  by  the  people  of  this 
country  to  annex  Cuba,  it  must  be  done  through  tact. 

57 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

That  would  be  a  form  of  high  statesmanship.  Force  will 
be  resisted.  The  American  government  must  at  least  be 
polite,  even  if  it  is  not  sincere.  I  do  not  advocate  an- 
nexation, but  of  this  I  am  certain :  there  will  be  no  per- 
manent peace  in  Cuba  unless  the  island  is  under  our  pro- 
tection, and  Cuba  will  not  be  all  that  Cuba  can  be  unless 
it  is  under  our  flag.  If  that  should  come  about  there 
will  soon  be  no  lack  of  men  or  money  for  the  island. 
But  it  will  bring  its  color-line  discord  and  its  sugar- 
tariff  problems.  In  one  sense,  American  annexation  had 
already  begun.  Our  money  became  the  standard  of  cur- 
rency in  Cuba.  Reports  from  Santiago  said  that  Amer- 
ican money  had  practically  driven  out  Spanish  money. 
During  the  first  week  of  our  management  of  the  Havana 
custom-house  only  about  $500  in  $50,000  was  paid  in 
American  money  for  duties.  In  less  than  six  weeks  these 
figures  were  reversed,  and  the  prediction  was  made  that 
in  less  than  a  year  American  money  would  practically  be 
the  only  money  in  general  use  in  the  island. 

As  one  goes  through  the  island  of  Cuba  nature  pre- 
sents to  him  one  inspiring  sight.  It  is  the  presence  by 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  royal  palm-trees.  They 
are  beautiful,  majestic,  useful,  stalwart,  commanding, 
and  emblematic  of  integrity  and  lofty  purpose.  Why 
that  tree  was  not  used  as  a  symbol  on  the  flag  of  Cuba  I 
cannot  understand.  I  am  sure  that  if  Cuba  had  raised 
up  among  her  people  men  as  towering  and  as  command- 
ing as  she  has  raised  trees  among  her  vegetation,  no  one 
need  worry  as  to  her  future.  But,  alas  !  what  country 
has  ever  done  that  ? 


CHAPTER  III 

HAVANA  GRAVE  AND  GAY  —  GENERAL  GARCIA's  FUNERAL, 
AND  THE  FIRST  SUNDAY  OF  THE  CARNIVAL 

TWO  important  events  occurred  practically  within 
twenty-four  hours  in  Havana  in  the  early  part  of 
February  that  were  so  wide  in  their  contrasts,  and 
yet  so  typical  of  the  temperament  of  the  people,  that  their 
story  should  be  told  together  in  order  to  reveal  their 
full  significance.  One  was  the  funeral  of  General  Calixto 
Garcia,  and  events  immediately  associated  with  it,  and 
the  other  was  the  first  Sunday  of  the  first  carnival  under 
American  rule.  The  funeral  occurred  on  Saturday,  Feb- 
ruary nth,  and  the  carnival  was  held  the  next  day.  The 
funeral  was  characterized  by  evidences  of  profound  pub- 
lic mourning.  A  scene  occurred  also  which  I  believe  to 
have  been  of  far-reaching  importance,  and  it  developed 
at  once  into  an  excitement  such  as  I  have  never  seen  in 
any  part  of  the  United  States.  The  carnival  was  charac- 
terized by  such  boisterousness  and  hilarity,  and  such  a 
waste  of  flour  at  a  time  when  thousands  within  the  city 
and  within  easy  reach  of  the  city  had  no  food  except 
what  was  given  out  at  public  relief  stations,  that  the 
American  sentinels  who  paraded  in  solemn  tread  up  and 
down  the  promenade  of  the  Prado,  and  the  hundreds  of 

59 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Americans  who  came  out  to  see  the  show,  looked  on  in 
open-eyed  amazement.     Both  events  were  picturesque. 

The  moment  that  the  booming  of  the  guns  in  salute 
announced  the  arrival  of  the  remains  of  General  Garcia, 
on  an  American  man-of-war,  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  Cuban  and  American  flags  appeared  at  half-mast  on 
flag-staffs  and  roofs  and  in  arches  and  windows.  In  a 
twinkling  it  seemed  as  if  the  old  pro-Spanish  city  of  Ha- 
vana had  become  a  Cuban  stronghold.  It  had  been  sup- 
posed that  there  was  little  sympathy  there  with  the 
Cuban  cause,  and  that  although  Spanish  rule  had  ended, 
the  people  were  still  hostile  to  the  idea  of  Cuban  inde- 
pendence. The  elaborate  display  of  bunting  intertwined 
with  black,  from  the  palatial  residences  of  the  rich  and 
the  hovels  of  the  poor,  seemed  to  indicate  either  a  com- 
plete conversion  of  the  people  in  patriotic  sentiment,  or 
a  profound  testimonial  to  the  personal  worth  of  General 
Garcia,  or  perhaps  both.  In  an  alleyway  scarcely  one 
hundred  feet  long,  and  lined  with  mere  shanties,  I  count- 
ed no  less  than  thirteen  Cuban  and  American  flags  at 
half-mast  —  flags  that  must  have  varied  in  cost  from 
twenty-five  cents  to  five  dollars. 

The  city  was  stirred  tremendously  by  the  arrival  of 
the  remains.  The  city  authorities  had  made  arrange- 
ments for  a  public  funeral,  and  for  the  body  to  lie  in 
state  two  days  in  the  Governor-General's  palace.  Far 
into  the  night  the  crowds  swarmed  about  the  palace  in 
the  effort  to  view  the  body.  It  was  placed  in  the  room 
where  the  city  council  meets.  The  walls  were  lined  with 
black  with  gilt  spangles,  and  hundreds  of  artificial 
flower  pieces,  with  purple  and  white  and  red  ribbons  and 

60 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

rosettes  attached,  filled  the  adjacent  rooms.  Some  of 
the  best  known  residents  and  officials  of  the  city  and 
some  of  the  recognized  women  leaders  of  the  highest 
society  sat  in  a  room  adjacent  to  the  remains,  while  the 
people,  in  single  file,  streamed  through,  hour  after  hour. 
Out  in  the  street  the  people  fought  madly  for  places  in 
the  line.  Women  of  refinement  were  pushed  about  in 
the  crowds,  and  their  clothing  trampled  upon.  The 
hoarse  shouts  of  the  American  soldiers  as  they  beat  back 
the  crowds  were  mingled  with  the  cries  of  alarm  from 
women  and  children.  All  wagon  and  carriage  traffic  was 
stopped  within  three  blocks  of  the  palace.  Hundreds  of 
the  ladies  of  Havana,  those  who  are  seldom  seen  outside 
of  their  homes  except  at  night,  and  then  only  in  carriages 
on  their  way  to  some  social  or  other  function  of  impor- 
tance, drove  as  near  as  they  could,  and  then  walked  the 
rest  of  the  way  to  the  palace,  where  they  had  to  fight  for 
places  in  the  line  that  was  filing  past  the  body,  which 
was  guarded  by  a  detail  of  armed  Cuban  soldiers.  It  was 
a  time  of  deep  public  mourning,  and  it  was  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  United  States  authorities  to  leave  the  mani- 
festation of  public  grief  and  public  sentiment  in  the 
complete  control  of  the  people  of  the  city,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  arrangements  for  the  funeral  had  been  completed, 
practically,  when  General  Brooke,  as  Military  Governor 
of  the  island,  received  orders  from  Washington  to  give 
the  remains  burial  honors  fitting  the  rank  of  General 
Garcia.  There  was  nothing  left  for  General  Brooke  to 
do  but  to  offer  a  soldier's  hearse — an  army  caisson — and 
to  attend  with  his  staff,  and  with  the  other  generals  of 

63 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  United  States  army  near  by  and  their  staffs,  and  a 
proper  escort,  as  representatives  of  the  great  American 
nation  in  military  control  of  the  island.  It  is  worthy  of 
special  note  that  all  our  generals  near  Havana  did  attend 


THE  TROCHA  HOTEL,  VEDADO — GENERAL  BROOKE  S  HEADQUARTERS 


personally,  instead  of  sending  representatives.  The 
committee  in  charge  of  the  event  had  arranged  places 
for  the  hundreds  of  societies  that  wished  to  have  places 
in  the  line,  and,  to  all  appearances,  every  detail  had  been 
looked  after  carefully.  The  procession  was  to  move  soon 
after  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  on  its  way  to  the  great 
Colon    Cemetery,  where   the   heroes   of   the  Maine    lie 

64 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

buried,  three  miles  out  of  town — a  beautiful  cemetery  on 
a  hill,  from  whose  gates  a  splendid  view  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  in  the  distance  may  be  obtained.  All  business  in 
the  city  was  suspended.  The  societies,  the  military,  the 
city  officials  and  church  dignitaries,  went  to  their  as- 
signed places  in  the  narrow  streets,  and  thousands  flock- 
ed to  the  plaza  in  the  centre  of  town,  known  as  Central 


O  REILLY,   PRINCIPAL   BUSINESS   STREET   OF   HAVANA 


Park.  There  was  a  noticeable  delay  in  starting  the  pro- 
cession, but  soon  after  two  o'clock  the  dirges  of  the 
bands  were  heard  and  the  horsemen  clearing  the  streets 
came  into  view.     Half  a  dozen  companies  of  the  Tenth 

67 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Regular  infantry  were  drawn  up  on  one  side  of  the  plaza, 
and  their  regimental  band  mingled  its  strains  of  mourn- 
ing music  with  those  that  were  in  the  procession. 

The  people  stood  silent  in  crowds.  Every  window  and 
balcony  was  filled.  There  were  long  lines  of  civilians 
carrying  banners  and  artificial  flowers,  with  streamers, 
on  which  some  sentiment  of  mourning  and  of  honor  to 
Garcia  had  been  printed  in  gilt  letters.  What  was  the 
chief  surprise  to  Americans  was  to  see  thousands  of 
women  and  girls  in  the  parade.  They  had  numerous 
societies  of  their  own.  They  were  smart  in  their  gowns. 
Some  wore  hats,  some  wore  mantillas,  some  carried  sun- 
shades or  fans,  but  the  majority  were  bareheaded.  They 
carried  their  banners  high  in  the  air,  and  held  their  ar- 
tificial floral  tributes  up  to  full  view.  That  part  of  the 
procession  reminded  one  of  the  annual  Sunday-school 
parade  in  Brooklyn.  The  procession  moved  at  a  very 
slow  pace.  There  were  scores  of  men  in  tall  hats  and 
evening  dress  ;  priests  stepped  along  sedately  with 
heads  uncovered,  and  their  white  or  black  gowns  trailing 
in  the  street ;  American  cavalry  and  artillery  clattered 
and  rumbled  along,  with  that  marked  spirit  of  strict  at- 
tention to  duty  that  characterizes  the  Regular  soldier 
everywhere  ;  American  generals  and  their  staffs  rode  or 
drove  by  ;  city  officials  and  university  professors  were  on 
foot ;  showy  hearses  with  lackeys  in  gorgeous  uniforms, 
and  escorts  burning  torches,  rolled  by,  filled  with  floral 
tributes  ;  the  coffin  on  the  army  caisson,  and  draped 
with  the  Cuban  flag,  made  a  severe  and  simple  show, 
such  as  befitted  the  occasion  ;  and  then  there  were  the 
volunteer  firemen  in  their  showy  uniforms,  followed  by 

68 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

a  long  line  of  empty  carriages  at  the  rear  of  the  proces- 
sion. It  was  an  imposing  spectacle  of  public  grief  and 
respect  to  a  dead  chieftain  on  the  part  of  a  demonstra- 
tive and  sentimental  people. 

To  those  of  the  spectators  near  the  Central  Park  it 
became  evident  that  there  was  something  wrong.  The 
procession  had  come  to  a  halt,  and  soon  files  of  Cuban 
soldiers  with  arms  reversed  were  seen  to  be  walking  rap- 
idly on  either  side  of  the  carriages  containing  the  Ameri- 
can generals  and  their  staffs,  as  if  to  overtake  the  caisson 
with  the  body,  and  to  march  beside  it  or  near  it.  Then 
a  young  Cuban  officer  ran  by,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the 
Cuban  soldiers  were  seen  coming  back  to  the  square, 
after  which  they  disappeared.  No  more  Cuban  soldiers 
were  seen  in  the  parade  at  any  time  that  afternoon. 
The  withdrawal  was  a  mystery  to  all  the  spectators,  but 
the  people  were  so  taken  up  with  the  procession  that  al- 
most no  attention  was  paid  to  it  at  the  time.  It  was  a 
fine  show  to  see  the  civilians — men,  women,  and  children 
— parading  the  streets.  Intense  interest  marked  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  cavalry  escort  —  the  Seventh  Cavalry, 
Custer's  old  regiment — dusty  and  dirty  from  a  long  ride 
into  town  from  Vedado,  every  man  sitting  his  thick- 
coated  and  sweaty  horse  with  the  ease  and  unconcern  of 
a  cowboy,  and  yet  maintaining  strict  and  careful  military 
alignment.  The  rumbling  guns  of  two  batteries  of 
American  light  artillery  fascinated  the  people  who  a  few 
months  before  had  been  face  to  face  with  the  horrors  of 
war.  The  seven  hearses,  one  of  which  was  said  to  have 
cost  $9000,  loaded  with  flowers,  and  decorated  with  gold- 
en angels  and  crosses  and  other  religious  emblems,  and 

71 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

accompanied  by  flunkies  in  scarlet  and  gold,  some  of  the 
men  burning  torches,  made  a  show  that  interested  the 
people,  who  were  used  to  seeing  only  one  gorgeous  hearse 
even  at  a  grand  funeral.  The  simplicity  of  the  funeral 
car,  the  lack  of  ostentation  on  the  part  of  the  American 
military  authorities,  the  appearance  of  General  Fitzhugh 
Lee  with  his  staff  on  horseback,  all  made  a  striking  con- 
trast with  the  showy  volunteer  firemen,  who  appeared 
next  in  line  by  the  hundreds.  Most  of  these  firemen  had 
been  members  of  the  volunteer  soldiery,  the  bitterest 
enemies  to  the  Cuban  cause — enemies  whom  even  the 
"  Butcher  "  Weyler  seemed  to  fear  and  to  be  unable  to 
control.  They  marched  behind  Garcia's  body,  however, 
and  with  their  heavy  helmets,  rubber  boots,  red  shirts, 
and  axes  of  every  description  and  of  forbidding  shapes, 
accomplished  the  end  which  seems  to  be  dearest  to  the 
heart  of  the  Havana  volunteer  fireman — namely,  securing 
unusual  public  attention.  They  strode  with  far-reaching 
steps,  and  refused  to  be  hurried,  although  a  gap  between 
them  and  that  part  of  the  procession  preceding  them  of 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  had  been  opened.  Then  came 
the  empty  carriages  to  bring  back  to  town  some  of  those 
who  had  walked.  There  had  been  so  much  to  look  at 
that  it  was  not  strange  that  the  absence  of  the  Cuban 
soldiers  and  certain  civilians,  known  as  members  of  the 
Cuban  Military  Assembly,  had  not  been  noticed  gen- 
erally. At  the  cemetery  the  man  who  was  to  have  de- 
livered the  oration  was  absent,  and,  to  add  to  the  sur- 
prise, a  squad  of  American  soldiers  fired  the  last  salute 
and  an  American  bugler  blew  taps.  Then  most  of  those 
present  knew  that  something  really  was  wrong. 

72 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

Before  those  who  had  been  in  the  funeral  procession 
had  reached  town  again  it  became  known  that  there  had 
been  a  scene  at  the  funeral.  Excitable  Cuban  officers 
were  gesticulating  in  cafe's  about  town,  and  loud  denun- 
ciations of  Governor-General  Brooke  were  heard  on  all 
sides.  What  had  General  Brooke  done  ?  asked  many 
Americans.  The  Cubans  said  that  he  had  insulted  the 
Cuban  Assembly  ;  that  he  had  permitted  his  cavalry  to 
drive  them  from  their  place  in  line  ;  that  he  had  been 
brusque  to  their  committee  ;  that  he  had  caused  all  Cu- 
bans who  had  any  self-respect,  and  who  remembered  the 
treatment  of  Garcia  at  Santiago,  to  leave  the  procession 
and  to  withdraw  from  any  participation  in  the  funeral. 
They  declared  that  he  was  a  monster,  an  ingrate,  and 
that  if  President  McKinley  did  not  call  him  home — well, 
the  President  had  better  watch  out.  After  much  ado 
the  Americans  got  the  story  out  of  the  Cuban  delegates 
who  had  withdrawn.  They  said  that  they  had  been  as- 
signed to  follow  directly  behind  the  body  of  Garcia. 
There  were  less  than  forty  of  them,  but  they  represented 
what  government  the  Cuban  revolutionary  party  had 
been  able  to  form.  Havana  was  always  hostile  to  them, 
but  to  have  been  made  the  chief  mourners  in  the  parade 
would  have  given  them  a  political  distinction  which  in 
the  eyes  of  the  impressionable  people  would  have  had  a 
tremendous  effect.  They  learned,  they  said,  that  Gen- 
eral Brooke  was  to  participate  in  the  parade,  and  the 
committee  in  charge  had  asked  them  if  they  would  not 
yield  their  place  in  the  line  to  General  Brooke  as  the 
official  representative  of  the  great  American  people. 
They  said  they  would,  but  to  General  Brooke  only,  and 

75 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

as  a  favor.  When  the  procession  was  formed  they  fell 
in  behind  General  Brooke's  carriage.  They  interpreted 
the  order  to  fall  in  behind  General  Brooke  literally — be- 
hind his  physical  presence.  They  were  ordered  out  of 
there,  they  said,  so  as  to  give  way  to  Brooke's  staff,  after 
a  committee  had  gone  to  the  general  and  asked  him  if 
he  wished  his  staff  to  crowd  them  out  of  their  places, 
and  he  had  most  rudely  said  that  his  staff  belonged  with 
him,  and  with  him  it  should  go.  According  to  their 
story  they  had  swallowed  this  insult  for  the  sake  of 
Garcia,  at  whose  death-bed  in  Washington  some  of  them 
had  stood.  Then  there  came  a  troop  of  American  cav- 
alry, and  they  drove  right  up  behind  the  staffs  of  Ameri- 
can generals  in  the  carriages  and  ordered  the  Cuban  As- 
sembly out  of  the  way.  The  procession  started,  and  the 
members  of  the  Assembly  filed  along  on  either  side  of 
the  cavalry,  and  attempted  to  drop  in  between  the  horse- 
men and  the  generals.  The  cavalrymen  drove  their 
horses  on  the  sidewalk,  they  said,  and  cut  off  this  flank 
movement,  and  so  they  not  only  withdrew,  but  ordered 
every  Cuban  soldier  out  of  the  procession,  and  the  Cu- 
ban soldiers,  who  numbered  fewer  than  four  hundred, 
had  obeyed  them.  The  fact  that  the  Cuban  soldiers  had 
obeyed  them  to  a  man,  they  said,  was  at  least  some  sat- 
isfaction, and  they  were  proud  of  it. 

That  was  the  story  they  told,  and  that  night  about 
nine  o'clock  it  seemed  to  have  confirmation.  An  even- 
ing newspaper  got  out  an  extra,  printed  only  on  one  side 
of  the  paper,  purporting  to  give  a  full  story  of  the  row. 
It  denounced  General  Brooke  fiercely.  The  newsboys 
dashed  into  the  cafe's,  flung  their  papers  right  and  left, 

76 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

and  then  collected  their  money  afterwards.  In  a  flash 
there  were  hundreds  of  groups  on  the  sidewalks,  in  the 
centre  of  each  of  which  was  a  man  reading  in  a  loud 
voice  what  the  extra  contained.  In  less  than  half  an 
hour  the  town  was  in  an  uproar,  and  seemed  to  rock 


COMPANY  KITCHEN   OF  THE  TENTH    REGULAR   INFANTRY  ON   THE   PRADO 

with  excitement/  The  one  refrain  was  that  General 
Brooke  must  go.  The  Assembly  itself  met  and  ordered 
an  investigation  of  General  Brooke's  conduct,  with  much 
presumption,  and  with  the  intention  of  ultimately  send- 
ing a  committee  to  Washington  to  tell  the  President 
that  General  Brooke's  insults  could  not  be  tolerated.  I 
have  never  seen  a  more  excited  populace.  It  seemed  as 
if  violence   must  break  out  on  all  sides.     It  made  the 

77 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Americans  angry  to  hear  the  President  and  their  repre- 
sentatives in  Cuba  denounced.  After  inquiry  they  soon 
found  that  there  was  gross  exaggeration  in  the  stories. 
Then  their  wrath  arose  in  sundry  places.  One  Ameri- 
can whose  ardent  loyalty  challenged  my  admiration  took 
a  couple  of  the  members  of  the  Cuban  Assembly  to  task 
in  these  words : 

"  How  dare  you  insult  the  American  people  who  made 
you  free?  Do  you  really  want  Brooke  to  go?  Then 
send  your  committee  to  Washington  and  see  what  you'll 
get.  Do  you  know  what  you  did  to-day?  You  aban- 
doned on  the  street  the  body  of  your  chief — you  who- 
were  present,  some  of  you  at  least,  at  his  death-bed — and 
left  it  to  the  American  army  to  give  it  decent  burial. 
Shame  on  you  !  Suppose  even  that  it  was  true  that 
General  Brooke  did  insult  you  !  Why  didn't  you  endure 
it  for  the  sake  of  poor  Garcia,  and  then  make  a  row 
afterwards?  You  have  committed  political  suicide  to- 
day. Do  you  suppose  that  the  American  people  will 
consent  that  the  government  of  this  island  shall  be 
turned  over  to  you,  who  show  such  a  lack  of  self-re- 
straint, who  act  like  children  ?  Mark  my  word  !  The 
days  of  the  Cuban  Assembly  are  numbered." 

And  it  was  true.  I  had  been  favorably  impressed  with 
several  of  the  delegates  to  the  Assembly  up  to  that  time. 
Their  high  -  sounding  assertions  of  praise  for  Ameri- 
cans and  profound  convictions  of  their  own  ability  for 
self-government  had  made  a  distinct  impression  upon 
me.  I  still  think  that  many  of  them  were  honest,  pure- 
minded,  and  patriotic.  But  one  could  not  escape  the 
conviction  after  that  Garcia  episode  that  they  were  not 

78 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

capable  of  self-restraint,  to  say  nothing  of  self-govern- 
ment ;  and  then,  when  other  Cubans,  men  who  had  been 
ardent  revolutionists,  and  whose  sincerity  could  not  be 
doubted,  declared,  as  hundreds  of  them  did,  that  the 
Cuban  Assembly  was  chiefly  a  band  of  political  advent- 
urers out  for  the  spoils  and  the  honors  of  office,  the 
conviction  became  irresistible  that  if  self-government 
was  to  come  for  Cuba  it  must  be  through  some  other 
agency  than  that  of  the  Cuban  Assembly.  The  sound- 
ness of  that  conviction  has  since  been  demonstrated. 

The  charges  against  General  Brooke  were  all  untrue. 
At  first  I  thought  that  perhaps  he  might  have  lacked 
tact — he  has  a  soldier's  bluntness — and  that  with  a  word 
he  could  have  straightened  out  any  difficulty.  "  If  he 
had  only  been  polite  to  us,"  said  one  of  the  Cuban  lead- 
ers, "we  should  have  forgiven  all  else.  The  Cuban  asks 
politeness,  whether  there  is  sincerity  in  it  or  not."  To 
give  the  facts  in  the  matter,  let  me  tell  what  General 
Brooke  said  to  me  about  it,  and  although  it  was  said  in  a 
conversation  not  intended  for  publication,  lam  sure  that 
the  general  will  not  object  if  I  use  his  words  in  writing 
on  this  subject. 

"  All  arrangements,"  he  said,  "  had  been  made  for  the 
funeral  when  I  received  orders  to  see  that  Garcia's  re- 
mains should  have  funeral  honors  befitting  his  rank. 
There  was  nothing  for  me  to  do,  unless  I  should  overturn 
all  the  arrangements,  but  to  offer  a  soldier's  hearse — a 
caisson — and  to  notify  the  committee  that  I  should  attend 
the  funeral  with  my  staff.  I  made  no  request  for  any 
place  in  the  line,  and  was  quite  content  to  go  where  I 
was  assigned.  Just  before  the  procession  started  I  met 
f  81 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

young  Garcia,  and  asked  him,  through  my  interest  in 
him,  where  his  place  and  that  of  his  relatives  was  in  the 
line.  He  said  that  it  was  quite  some  distance  behind 
that  of  myself  and  the  other  representatives  of  the 
American  army.  I  said  to  him  :  '  That  is  not  right. 
Your  place  to-day  is  directly  behind  your  father's  body. 
That  is  your  place  by  every  right  on  such  an  occasion. 
Send  word  to  the  committee  that  I  am  unwilling  to  have 
you  go  elsewhere.  It  is  my  wish  that  you,  not  I,  should 
be  next  to  your  father's  body.'  That  was  the  only  posi- 
tive direction  I  gave  in  reference  to  the  funeral.  It  was 
obeyed.  I  was  sitting  in  my  carriage,  shielded  from  the 
sun  as  much  as  possible,  because  I  was  not  feeling  well, 
and  General  Chaffee  was  with  me.  A  man  who  looked 
as  if  he  might  be  a  committee-man  came  to  the  carriage,, 
and  asked  me  if  I  wanted  my  escort  to  go  directly  behind 
me.  '  I  have  no  escort,'  I  said.  He  asked  me  if  it  was 
my  wish  that  my  staff  should  go  with  me,  and  I  said  it 
was,  because  that  was  the  proper  place,  and  the  man  went 
away.  He  did  not  tell  me  who  he  was  or  why  he  asked. 
He  gave  me  no  hint  at  all  of  any  difficulty,  and  I  knew 
nothing  of  any  dissatisfaction  until  it  was  all  over.  I 
saw  the  Cuban  soldiers  leaving  the  procession,  but  inas- 
much as  I  was  not  in  charge  in  any  sense,  and  was  only 
a  guest,  I  made  no  effort  to  find  out  the  cause.  It  did 
not  occur  to  me  to  investigate  the  reason  for  any  move 
made  in  the  procession,  and  why  should  it  ?" 

The  cavalrymen  behind  General  Brooke  were  an  escort, 
it  was  said,  to  General  Lee,  who,  with  his  staff,  rode  last 
in  the  assignment  of  the  American  officers,  and  did  not 
seem  to  bother  himself  about  questions  of  precedence. 

82 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

His  appearance  even  at  a  funeral  was  the  occasion  of  a 
demonstration  such  as  stirred  one's  blood.  He  was  not 
far  behind  the  coffin,  and  he  made  an  effort  not  to  notice 
the  cries  and  shouts  of  "  Lee !"  "  Lee  !"  "  Lee  !"  but  the 
dignified  and  constrained  short  bows  that  he  made 
finally  simply  endeared  him  the  more  to  the  populace. 


DINING   TENT   OF   THE   TENTH    REGULAR    INFANTRY    ON   THE   PRADO 


It  was  a  revelation  to  the  newly  arrived  Americans  of 
the  wonderful  hold  of  General  Lee  on  the  affections  of 
the  masses  in  Havana.  The  people  could  not  restrain 
their  shouts  even  at  Garcia's  funeral.  No  one  else  was 
cheered. 

Of  course  the  feeling  against  General  Brooke  ended  in 
smoke.     In  less  than  four  days  the  same  Cuban  Assembly 

83 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  him  for  his  part  in  the  Garcia 
funeral,  and  for  the  honors  paid  to  Garcia.  He  also  re- 
ceived letters  that  if  printed  would  have  caused  surprise 
at  the  fickleness  of  that  body  which  presumed  to  demand 
that  it  be  allowed  to  govern  the  island  of  Cuba  in  the 
name  of  the  people. 

Thus  ended  an  exciting  and  important  incident  in  the 
unfolding  of  new  events  for  Cuba.  Writing  several  weeks 
later,  as  I  recalled  the  funeral,  three  living  figures  stood 
out  in  memory.  One  was  a  girl  about  seventeen  years 
old,  marching  alone  in  the  procession.  Her  gown  was 
of  broad  blue  and  white  stripes.  Her  bodice  was  of  red 
with  a  large  white  star  on  her  chest.  On  her  head  was 
a  Liberty  cap  made  of  the  Cuban  colors.  She  typified 
Cuban  hopes  and  national  aspirations.  Another  figure 
was  that  of  a  little  boy,  not  more  than  eight  years  old. 
He  was  in  the  uniform  of  a  Cuban  officer,  and  he  swung 
a  deadly  machete  with  a  fierceness  of  mien  that  showed 
that  the  war  fever  was  in  the  blood  of  the  children,  in- 
dicative of  the  condition  of  affairs  to  be  expected  in  the 
future.  The  other  figure  was  Fitzhugh  Lee,  the  popular 
idol  of  the  people,  to  whom,  as  a  living  embodiment  of 
American  interference  in  the  war,  the  gratitude  of  a  freed 
people  went  out. 

Then  came  the  carnival.  The  flags  that  had  been  at 
half-mast  for  Garcia  were  raised  to  tops  of  poles,  and  the 
emblems  of  mourning  were  removed  bright  and  early. 
Havana,  still  greatly  excited,  did  not  seem  to  know 
whether  there  would  be  any  carnival.  The  condition  of 
the  people  was  hysterical  rather  than  joyous.  The  sky 
was  overcast,  and  in  the  afternoon  a  few  raindrops  fell. 

84 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

By  three  o'clock  the  only  sign  of  a  carnival  was  a  long 
row  of  chairs  for  rent  placed  along  the  promenade  of  the 
Prado.  About  four  o'clock  a  child  of  four,  looking  as  if 
she  might  be  Mrs.  Tom  Thumb  over  again,  escorted  by 
her  proud  father  and  dressed  in  a  gown  that  had  a  long 
sweeping  train,  walked  down  the  Prado  promenade,  flirt- 
ing her  fan  vigorously  and  talking  vivaciously  as  she 
bent  her  little  head  with  its  powdered  hair  from  right  to 
left.  That  was  a  sign  that  there  was  going  to  be  some 
kind  of  a  carnival.  Then  came  a  United  States  army 
wagon  loaded  with  the  witnesses  to  a  murder  committed 
the  night  before.  An  American  army  officer  driving  a 
tandem  next  appeared  on  the  street.  Soon  a  dog-cart 
containing  two  masked  women  drove  down  the  Prado, 
and  disappeared,  as  if  ashamed  at  the  lonely  show  it 
made.  Then  there  came  a  wagon  drawn  by  two  mules 
in  tandem.  The  wagon  was  full  of  laughing  children. 
The  chairs  along  the  street  were  now  filled,  and  the 
promenade  was  almost  crowded.  The  American  sentries 
looked  on  with  curious  interest  as  they  kept  up  their  slow, 
deliberate  step  of  patrol.  Soon  private  carriages  began 
to  appear.  The  bridles  of  the  horses  were  decorated 
with  red,  white,  and  blue  rosettes,  the  first  significant 
hint  of  the  new  order  of  things  in  Havana.  Smart  Cuban 
horsemen  on  beautiful  ponies  appeared  here  and  there, 
and  then  dashed  away  on  side  streets.  It  was  evident 
that  Havana  wanted  to  have  a  carnival,  and  had  sent 
out  advance-scouts  to  see  if  any  one  was  coming  out. 

The  decision  was  favorable,  and  after  half-past  four 
o'clock  the  carriages  were  seen  to  be  coming  towards  the 
famous  street  of  Havana  in  throngs.     All  the  balconies 

87 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

were  crowded,  and  in  front  of  the  Sport  Club  and  the 
United  States  Club  and  a  saloon  down  at  the  foot  of  the 
street,  where  the  drivers  and  riders  turned,  there  were 
groups  of  men  and  boys,  whose  expressions  told  that 
there  was  mischief  afoot.     A  girl  in  white  drove  a  beau- 


GUARD-MOUNT  OF  TENTH  REGULAR  INFANTRY  ON  THE  PRADO 


tiful  high-stepper  all  alone.  A  spirited  team  of  bays,, 
driven  by  a  woman,  who  was  proud  of  her  skill,  but 
whose  husband  sat  on  a  back  seat  ready  to  seize  the 
reins,  made  a  fine  figure  dashing  up  and  down.  Here 
and  there  little  streamers  of  paper  trailed  out  behind 
in  tangled  confusion  as  the  carriages  sped  along.  The 
dignified  people  of  the  town  were  out  in  vehicles  that  had 
been  stored  away  since  the  war  began,  and  entire  fam- 
ilies in  this  way  made  the  circuit  of  the  Prado  several 
times.     All  the  women  and  girls  had  their  hair  powdered 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

and  wore  their  prettiest  summer  gowns.  The  men  sat 
with  them  as  if  they  were  out  simply  to  protect  the  gen- 
tler sex.  There  was  no  disorder,  and  it  looked  as  if  the 
affair  was  to  be  simply  a  driving  and  riding  show.  The 
smart  horseback  riding  of  the  young  Cuban  men  was  a 
pretty  spectacle  of  itself.  Occasionally  a  bonbon  would 
be  thrown  from  a  balcony,  and  there  were  recognitions 
and  bows  on  all  sides.  It  was  a  very  sedate  affair.  The 
war  had  sobered  Havana. 

But  at  five  o'clock  the  street  had  become  almost  fu- 
rious with  the  whirl  of  carriages  and  horsemen.  The 
horses  were  steaming  and  flecked  with  foam.  Some  of 
the  men  who  were  riding  in  victorias  began  to  bend  over 
to  look  after  certain  mysterious  packages  in  their  vehi- 
cles. One  of  them  gave  a  peculiar  look  as  he  rounded 
the  end  of  the  Prado,  and  forthwith  twenty  young  men 
arose  from  their  chairs  in  front  of  a  saloon  and  brown- 
paper  missiles  were  hurled  at  the  man  in  the  carriage. 
They  went  straight  to  the  mark,  broke  over  him,  and  a 
great  white  cloud  filled  the  air,  and  shouts  of  laughter 
were  heard  hundreds  of  yards  away.  The  bombardment 
had  begun.  It  was  mimic  war.  The  clouds  of  flying 
flour  were  the  smoke  of  battle.  A  commotion  arose  in 
front  of  the  Sport  Club.  Hundreds  ran  towards  it.  Half 
a  dozen  young  horsemen  were  seen  to  be  approaching. 
They  halted  ;  then  they  spurred  their  horses  on  at  racing 
speed,  bent  low  in  their  saddles,  and  were  pelted  with 
flour  as  they  rushed  by  like  the  wind.  Another  bom- 
bardment broke  out  at  the  United  States  Club.  Havana 
was  itself  again.  The  floating  particles  of  flour  filled  the 
air  and  whitened  the  clothes  of  the  spectators.     The  dig- 

89 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

nified  families  drove  off  the  street  to  avoid  trouble.  The 
bombardments  increased,  and  soon  the  entire  street  was 
filled  with  a  shrieking,  laughing  populace  enjoying  the 
sight  of  horsemen  and  carriages  tearing  madly  up  and 
down,  and  men  on  horseback  and  in  carriages  covered 
from  head  to  foot  with  splashes  of  flour.  The  flying  rib- 
bons swirled  in  confusion  behind  the  carriages,  and  daring 
children  dashed  out  to  catch  them,  only  to  be  rescued  by 
soldiers  or  pedestrians  from  danger  and  death,  as  the 
excited  horses  rushed  by,  practically  beyond  control. 
Volley  after  volley,  single  shot  after  single  shot,  went 
whirling  through  the  air,  and  now  and  then  the  hurlers 
of  the  ammunition  had  to  wait  for  the  atmosphere  to 
clear  so  as  to  see  the  flying  targets.  Men  in  the  car- 
riages began  to  stand  up  and  pelt  one  another  as  they 
raced  side  by  side.  It  was  no  carnival  of  flowers,  such  as 
Nice  presents,  nor  of  floats,  such  as  New  Orleans  exhibits 
with  pride.  It  was  a  carnival  of  the  most  boisterous 
kind  of  hilarity,  with  confetti  and  bonbons  soon  ex- 
hausted, and  with  packages  of  flour  as  the  only  missiles 
in  a  city  where  there  were  thousands  of  persons  who 
would  have  starved  except  for  the  care  and  generosity 
of  the  American  government.  And  the  strangest  part  of 
it  all  was  to  see  the  American  army  sentinels  marching 
sedately  up  and  down  with  their  rifles  on  their  shoulders, 
for  the  first  time  part  of  a  unique  show  in  a  foreign  land. 
At  5.15  o'clock  the  fun  ran  riot.  The  horses  were 
becoming  tired.  They  and  their  drivers  and  riders  had 
become  transformed  into  white  apparitions.  Even  the 
leaves  of  the  trees  became  powdered,  and  then  the  peo- 
ple, their  sides  aching  with  laughter,  began  to  go  home. 

90 


MERCEDES   CHURCH,   BUILT    I746 


HAVANA    GRAVE    AND    GAY 

Raindrops  pattered  down  upon  the  throng,  electric  lights 
began  to  splutter,  the  long  beams  of  the  Morro  Castle 
light  shot  up  the  Prado  and  out  to  sea,  and  then,  as  the 
noise  and  confusion  lessened,  the  strains  of  a  band  were 
heard.  The  music  came  from  a  stately  building  at  the 
foot  of  the  Prado,  and  the  players,  dressed  in  white  uni- 
forms, were  in  the  corridor  behind  stout  iron  bars,  but 
close  to  the  street,  and  in  full  view  of  the  pedestrians. 
It  was  the  convict  band  in  the  state -prison  that  was 
playing,  and  its  members  were  in  high  feather  as  they 
realized  that  they  too  were  part  of  the  show.  No  music 
was  ever  gayer  than  that  which  they  played,  and  as  its 
strains  floated  out  upon  the  street,  and  as  little  Mrs. 
Tom  Thumb  swished  her  way  along,  and  all  the  other 
pedestrians  turned  to  go  home,  and  the  drivers  and  riders 
began  to  thin  out,  with  the  flickering  lights  dancing 
upon  the  heads  and  faces  of  pinched  and  starving  people 
and  ghost-like  participants  in  the  activities  of  the  hilari- 
ous carnival  of  half  an  hour,  the  Americans  who  had 
been  out  to  see  the  show  shook  their  heads  in  amaze- 
ment, while  the  imperturbable  sentries  resumed  their 
duty  of  keeping  the  peace  in  a  foreign  land.  Garcia  had 
been  buried  only  twenty-four  hours,  the  fever  of  riot  had 
been  in  the  blood  of  the  masses,  but  the  carnival  had 
come,  and  Havana  had  forgotten  all  about  bloodshed  and 
mutiny,  and  in  the  evening  came  out  to  see  the  children 
play  ring-around-a-rosy  in  the  public  square,  to  the  music 
of  a  local  band,  and  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  statue  of 
Queen  Isabella,  since  removed. 

Havana  grave  and  gay  !     Havana  mutinous  and  hila- 
rious !     Havana  always  hysterical  ! 

93 


CHAPTER  IV 

PUBLIC  WORKS    IN  HAVANA — STREET-CLEANING    AND  OTHER 
PROBLEMS 

PROBABLY  the  greatest  surprise  that  thousands 
of  persons  found,  when  they  flocked  to  Havana  in 
the  first  sixty  days  of  American  military  control, 
was  clean  streets.  I  have  said  that  they  were  as  clean 
as  those  of  New  York  City  under  Tammany  control.  On 
bright  sunshiny  days  they  seemed  even  cleaner  than  New 
York  streets.  On  rainy  days  they  were  not  so  clean  as 
the  streets  of  New  York  in  wet  weather.  The  reason 
was  that  there  is  no  foundation  for  the  paving-stones  in 
the  streets  of  Havana.  When  hard  traffic  jolts  over  the 
square,  ungainly  paving-stones  of  the  city  on  a  rainy  day, 
the  black  mud,  poisoned  with  the  filth  and  disease  germs 
of  decades  and  even  centuries,  exudes  between  the  stones, 
and  the  streets  become  black  with  dirt,  just  a  trifle  black- 
er and  thicker  than  the  black  mud  of  lower  New  York 
streets  when  street-cleaning  becomes  largely  a  matter  of 
politics — that  is,  part  of  the  game  of  getting  money  out 
of  a  public  treasury  without  giving  an  equivalent.  The 
rain  over  and  the  sun  shining,  Havana's  streets  under 
American  military  rule  were  as  clean  as  those  of  any 
city  in  the  United  States. 

94 


PUBLIC   WORKS  — STREET-CLEANING 

When  the  Americans  took  actual  charge  of  the  cityr 
however,  the  streets  were  filthy.  Dead  animals  abound- 
ed, garbage  was  encountered  everywhere,  gutters  were 
foul,  and  open  mouths  of  sewers  running  into  the  ocean 


STREET-CLEANING   FORCE— CORNER   OF   PRADO   AND    NEPTUNE   STREET 


or  into  the  harbor  were  reeking.  Nauseating  odors  filled 
the  air,  and  the  condition  of  the  public  buildings  was 
such  that  the  American  army  officers  practically  refused 
to  occupy  them.  To  illustrate  the  frightful  condition  of 
the  public  buildings,  let  me  say  that  in  one  of  the  rooms 
of  the  Fuerza  Castle,  occupied  by  the  civil  guard,  and  in 
the  group  of  public  buildings  of  which  the  captain-gen- 
eral's palace  was  the  chief,  the  bodies  of  no  less  than 
fifteen  dead  cats  and  dogs  were  found.  These  animals 
had  not  died  of  starvation.  They  had  strayed  into  this 
room  in  their  search  for  food,  and  had  died  of  the  foul 

95 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

atmosphere.  A  candle  would  not  burn  in  the  place. 
Thirty-two  cart-loads  of  dirt  were  taken  from  the  palace 
•of  the  governor  of  Havana  province.  The  condition  of 
the  captain  -  general's  palace  was  such  that  General 
Brooke  would  not  occupy  it,  and  he  went  out  to  a  suburb 
called  Vedado,  where  he  and  his  staff  and  office  help  oc- 
cupied the  building  in  which  the  Evacuation  Commis- 
sioners held  their  sessions. 

Major-General  Francis  V.  Greene,  who  was  in  charge 
of  Havana  when  the  Spanish  forces  evacuated,  began  the 
preliminary  work   of   cleaning   the  town;   and  General 


FACTORIA    STREET,   UNDER   REPAIR 


Ludlow,  who  succeeded  him,  with  larger  opportunity  and 
a  wider  scope,  carried  it  on  so  that  within  thirty  days, 
and  even  less,  Havana  became  clean  in  outward  appear- 
ance.    General  Ludlow  was  charged,  in  the  order  assign- 

96 


PUBLIC    WORKS  — STREET-CLEAXIXG 

ing  him  to  duty  in  Havana,  with  caring  for  the  collection 
and  disbursement  of  the  city  revenues,  with  forming,  a 
police  force,  with  providing  a  sanitation  scheme,  and  also 
with  the  general  government  of  the  place,  under  regula- 
tions provided  by  the  President.  It  was  in  obedience  to 
these  instructions  that  the  general  burned  the  midnight 
oil  night  after  night.  His  duties  were  defined  clearly. 
He  formed  a  commission  to  investigate  the  matter  of 
city  revenue ;  he  took  up  the  work  of  forming  a  police 
force,  which  was  well  under  way  during  General  Greene's 
rdgime,  under  the  guidance  of  John  McCullagh,  former 
chief  of  police  in  New  York  City  ;  he  divided  the  sanita- 
tion work  into  two  classes,  one  that  had  to  do  with  mat- 
ters out-of-doors,  and  the  other  that  had  to  do  with 
work  inside  buildings  in  the  city,  one  of  the  departments 
being  known  as  the  department  of  public  works,  and  the 
other  the  department  of  public  health  ;  he  established 
food-depots  to  feed  the  starving,  and  then  he  carried  on 
the  military  routine  connected  with  his  office. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  M.  Black,  of  the  engineer  corps 
of  the  volunteer  army,  was  in  charge  of  the  public  works 
department  when  General  Ludlow  came,  and  it  was 
through  the  work  of  his  department  that  Havana  was 
made  clean  to  the  eye  in  a  few  weeks.  Colonel  Black 
first  organized  his  work  thoroughly.  He  formed  various 
bureaus.  One  had  to  do  with  the  cleaning  and  repairing 
of  streets  and  with  the  collection  of  garbage  ;  another 
bureau  had  to  do  with  the  matter  of  sewers  and  water 
distribution,  everything  pertaining  to  public  works  under- 
ground ;  a  third  bureau  was  for  the  inspection  of  build- 
ings, similar  to  such  bureaus  in  most  of  our  large  cities  ; 
g  97 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

a  fourth  had  charge  of  temporary  public  work  ;  a  fifth 
looked  after  public  property  ;  and  a  sixth  was  responsible 
for  the  harbor,  with  the  work  of  dredging,  repairing  and 
constructing  wharves,  the  care  of  buoys  and  fixed  bea- 
cons, as  its  especial  duty. 


ZULETA    AND    TROCADERO    STREETS  —  STREET  -  CLEANING    FORCE    GOING 
TO    WORK 


The  work  of  cleaning  the  streets  was  placed  in  charge 
of  Captain  W.  L.  Geary,  son  of  one  of  Pennsylvania's 
famous  governors.  Captain  Geary  is  a  resident  of  Seat- 
tle, Washington.  He  really  began  the  work  on  Decem- 
ber 2,  1898,  and  advanced  with  his  carts  and  laborers  as 
the  Spaniards  gradually  evacuated  the  town.  He  is  a 
quiet,  methodical,  determined  officer,  with  excellent  ex- 
ecutive ability,  and  he  went  about  his  work  in  a  system- 
atic way.  A  careful  inspection  of  the  city  and  suburbs 
had  been  made.  What  this  meant  is  illustrated  by  the 
following  official  report  on  the  condition  of  Casa  Blanca, 


PUBLIC    WORKS  — STREET-CLEANING 

the  little  fishing-village  at  the  end  of  Cabanas  fortress, 
and  directly  across  the  harbor  from  the  captain-general's 
palace  : 

The  streets  are  very  narrow,  overgrown  with  grass,  and  it  is 
evident  that  they  have  never  been  repaired.  Some  are  on  a  level 
with  the  bay,  and  others  six  or  eight  yards  above  it.  There  is 
absolutely  no  water-supply  nor  any  drainage.  The  filthy  waters 
are  thrown  into  the  streets  or  into  the  bay.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  every  kind  of  garbage  or  organic  matter.  Everything  is 
thrown  into  the  streets,  and  in  every  place  large  quantities  may 
be  found.  The  coal  deposited  there  (there  are  large  coal-docks 
on  that  side  of  the  harbor)  soils  the  streets  and  houses  near  by. 
The  vaults  of  Cabanas  drain  near  the  town,  and  while  the  Spanish 
troops  were  there  the  bad  smell  was  terrible.  It  is  not  so  bad 
now,  because  there  are  no  soldiers  there. 

Almost  all  the  houses  are  of  wood.  In  the  remains  of  some 
demolished  buildings  the  Chinese  have  formed,  with  the  aid  of 
boards  and  rags,  some  miserable  huts,  in  which  a  large  number 
of  them  live.  In  one  of  these  filthy  huts  I  counted  seventy  of 
them.  All  these  huts  are  in  bad  condition,  without  light  or  ven- 
tilation, and  the  streets  serve  for  all  private  uses.  Some  families 
of  reconcentrados  live  in  a  similar  way.  Some  houses  are  sep- 
arated by  an  alley,  in  which  are  placed  boxes,  barrels,  and  every- 
thing that  is  not  useful  in  the  houses,  especially  if  the  building  is 
a  store.  On  the  shore  are  great  deposits  of  garbage  from  the 
vessels. 

Then  followed  in  the  report  ten  recommendations  to 
remedy  the  situation.  These  recommendations  involved 
the  demolition  of  the  Chinese  habitations  of  rags  and 
boards,  the  cleaning  of  streets,  construction  of  gutters, 
purification  of  dwellings.  The  physician  who  made  the 
report,  a  Cuban,  who  wrote  in  English,  closed  with  these 

99 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

words  :  "  It  is  necessary  to  clean  the  town,  for  it  is  a  con- 
stant danger  of  infection  for  vessels  in  the  bay." 

Captain  Geary  laid  out  the  city  in  districts,  got  the 


LIEUTENANT-COLONEL  WILLIAM    M.   BLACK,    U.  S.  A.,   CHIEF 
OF   THE   DEPARTMENT   OF   PUBLIC   WORKS 


names  of  as  many  men  who  needed  work  as  he  could, 
appointed  superintendents  and  foremen,  hired  carts,  ob- 
tained brooms  and  shovels,  and  started  in.    Early  in  Feb- 


PUBLIC    WORKS  —  STR'F  E  1 '  -  (J  3  ':•  A  Nv  IN  G 

ruary,  when  the  work  was  well  under  way,  the  report  of 
what  had  been  accomplished  in  the  previous  week  showed 
that  575,000  lineal  feet  of  streets  had  been  cleaned,  that 
983  cart-loads  of  sweepings  had  been  taken  away,  that 
585  square  feet  of  paved  streets  had  been  repaired,  that 
2750  square  feet  of  macadamized  streets  were  being  re- 
paired, and  that  13  scow-loads  of  street  refuse  had  been 
taken  out  to  sea  and  dumped.  In  that  week  650  men. 
were  at  work  on  the  streets,  and  the  pay  for  the  lowest 
of  them  was  83^  cents.  A  great  deal  of  work  was  done 
at  night,  because  of  the  narrow  streets  and  because  of  the 
climate.  Some  of  the  cleaners  were  sickly,  because  they 
had  lacked  food.  These  were  put  at  the  easiest  kind  of 
work,  and  day  by  day  most  of  them  showed  physical 
improvement. 

Colonel  Black's  report,  made  to  General  Ludlow  under 
the  date  of  February  16,  1899,  gave  this  resume*  of  the 
work  done  in  January  under  Captain  Geary  : 

An  investigation  showed  that  the  surface  of  the  streets  of  Ha- 
vana was  fairly  clean,  through  the  efforts  of  Captain  Geary,  who 
had  removed  2500  cart-loads  of  dirt.  Captain  Geary's  force  was 
largely  increased.  The  entire  city  and  suburbs  were  redistricted, 
and  an  inspector  was  appointed  for  each  district,  with  from  100 
to  150  laborers,  in  gangs  of  10  to  15  men  each,  under  a  foreman. 

Each  gang  has  a  definite  length  of  street  assigned  to  it.  In 
general  the  equipment  of  each  gang  comprises  5  water-sprinkling 
cans,  3  hoes,  12  brooms,  2  rakes,  and  10  shovels,  and,  for  the 
broader  streets,  4  wheelbarrows.  Carts  follow  the  gangs  and  take 
up  and  remove  the  sweepings  to  the  dump-boat.  Owing  to  the 
narrow  streets  and  the  great  amount  of  traffic,  the  use  of  the  bag 
system  was  found  to  be  inadvisable.     Later  it  is  proposed  to  sub- 

101 


/  j  pM  &  \  N  t  W  -,  ^O  R  N    CUBA 

divide  the  districts  and  assign  a  definite  piece  of  street  to  each 
man.  Under  the  organization,  at  the  end  of  the  month,  with  a 
force  consisting  of  8  inspectors,  38  foremen,  663  laborers,  and  63 
carts,  150,000  feet  of  street  were  cleaned  daily,  200,000  feet  three 


FLORIDA  STREET  BEFORE  AMERICAN  OCCUPATION 

times  per  week,  100,000  feet  twice  per  week,  and  35,186  feet  once 
per  week,  covering  the  entire  city.  The  total  number  of  running 
feet  cleaned  per  week  was  1,735,186.  The  cost  of  cleaning  for 
the  month  was  $16,930  18.  The  sweepings  were  carried  to  sea 
and  dumped. 

Within  a  month  Colonel  Black's  pay-roll  for  all  his  de- 
partments— the  chief  of  which,  so  far  as  the  number  of 

102 


PUBLIC    WORKS  — STREET-CLEANING 

employes  was  concerned,  was  the  street-cleaning  depart- 
ment— carried  more  than  2000  name:.  In  the  matter  of 
street  repairs  Colonel  Black  made  this  summary  : 

Great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  getting  a  supply  of  stone 
for  macadamizing.  No  new  paving-blocks  were  on  hand.  Owing 
to  the  absence  of  a  complete  system  of  street  grades,  and  also  to 
the  certainty  that  the  pavements  would  have  to  be  torn  up  at  an 
early  date  to  permit  the  construction  of  a  sewer  system,  the  work 
of  street  repair  was  confined  to  filling  bad  holes  or  breaks  in  the 
pavements.  During  the  month  about  3000  square  yards  of  re- 
paving  and  about  23,000  square  yards  of  macadamizing  was  done. 
In  preparation  for  replacing  the  street  pavements,  it  will  be  nec- 
essary to  prepare  grade  sheets  for  the  entire  city  street  system. 

When  it  came  to  the  question  of  sewers,  General  Lud- 
low and  Colonel  Black  were  face  to  face  with  the  biggest 
problem  in  Havana.  It  has  been  the  general  impression 
that  there  are  no  sewers  in  Havana.  That  is  a  mistake. 
There  are  nearly  ten  miles  of  them,  some  public  and 
some  private.  Some  of  them  open  into  the  harbor,  like 
the  one  that  runs  under  the  Custom-house,  and  others 
into  the  ocean.  The  ends  of  these  sewers,  in  some  cases 
for  a  distance  of  a  hundred  yards,  are  open,  and  although 
there  is  a  good  flow  in  them,  they  are  a  source  of  infec- 
tion because  they  are  open.  Havana  is  a  place  not  pre- 
senting any  difficult  engineering  problems  in  sewering. 
There  is  an  easy  pitch  to  most  of  the  streets,  and  the  city 
runs  along  the  ocean  on  one  side  and  borders  on  a  blind 
harbor,  but  close  to  the  ocean,  on  the  other  side.  Near 
the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  and  along  the  ocean-front,  the 
sewers  left  no  noticeable  deposits  or  odors. 

103 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

The  great  problem  was  how,  when,  and  by  whom  the 
sewers  should  be  established.  It  was  conceded  that  they 
must  be  built.  The  city  was  full  of  men  who  were  look- 
ing for  just  such  contracts.  Colonel  Waring  had  been 
down  there,  and  had  reported  that  it  would  cost  from 
$10,000,000  to  $12,000,000  to  do  the  work  properly,  and  it 
was  said  in  Havana  that  a  company  of  his  friends  was 
organized  to  take  hold  of  the  work.     Michael  Dady,  the 


MERCADERAS     STREET,    LOOKING     EAST     FROM 
EMPEDRADO 


well-known  Brooklyn  contractor  and  spoils  politician, 
had  a  contract  for  something  like  $15,000,000  to  do  the 
same  work  on  a  different  plan.  There  was  a  good  deal  of 
mystery  about  Colonel  Dady's  contract.  The  fact  was 
that  the  City  Council  of  Havana,  before  the  war,  had  ap- 
proved Colonel  Dady's  plan  without  authorizing  a  direct 

104 


PUBLIC    WORKS  — STREET-CLEANING 

contract.  Thereafter  steps  were  taken  gradually  where- 
by the  city  became  committed  to  Colonel  Dady's  plan, 
and  before  the  place  was  evacuated  by  the  Spaniards  the 
council  authorized  the  contract  to  be  signed.  Then  came 
the  change  in  control  of  affairs,  with  the  understanding 
that  existing  laws  and  obligations  were  to  be  respected 
by  the  United  States  authorities  while  in  temporary  con- 
trol. When  the  sovereignty  of  a  country  changes,  the 
new  rulers  may  abrogate  not  only  contracts  that  have 
been  authorized,  but  those  that  are  in  force.  It  was  a 
delicate  question,  however,  in  view  of  the  proclaimed 
purpose  of  the  United  States  to  act  merely  as  a  pacifi- 
cator, whether  it  would  have  the  right  to  throw  aside 
Colonel  Dady's  contract.  As  a  conquering  nation  this 
country  could  do  as  it  pleased  ;  as  a  pacifying  nation  it 
might  revoke  the  contract  on  the  ground  of  high  mili- 
tary necessity,  and  because  the  contract  did  not  conform 
to  good  public  policy.  I  know  nothing  about  the  engi- 
neering merits  of  the  scheme  of  Colonel  Dady,  but  I  am 
warranted  in  saying  that  practically  every  man  in  Ha- 
vana, who  had  looked  into  the  matter  and  was  compe- 
tent to  judge,  whether  he  was  engineer  or  lawyer,  believed 
that  Dady  had  at  least  an  equity  in  his  authorized  con- 
tract. This  opinion  was  shared  by  some  of  the  highest 
military  authorities.  There  was  not  so  unanimous  an 
opinion  as  to  the  wisdom  of  following  out  his  plan,  and, 
indeed,  it  was  my  belief,  after  talking  with  the  experts, 
that  some  other  plan  was  preferred  by  the  officials. 

Colonel  Waring  had  urged  that  work  be  begun  at 
once.  There  was  delay  in  Washington.  Some  of  the 
authorities  had  said  that  sewers  could  be  put  in  in  sixty 

105 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

days.  A  well-known  brigadier-general  said  to  me  that 
he  had  told  General  Ludlow  that  he  would  produce  a 
contractor  who  would  guarantee  to  put  sewers  in  the 
town  in  that  time.  It  was  simply  ridiculous.  There 
were  no  maps  showing  grades  and  distances  ;  there  was 
no  general  scheme  as  to  size  of  main  sewers,  and  their 
branches  and  the  disposition  of  them  ;  there  was  no 
sewer-pipe  to  be  had  in  Cuba  for  drains,  and  to  have  de- 
cided upon  the  sizes  and  amount  would  have  taken  time, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  sufficient  quan- 
tities from  the  United  States  in  short  order  ;  there  were 
no  plumbers'  supplies  in  Havana  ;  most  important  of  all, 
there  were  not  a  sufficient  number  of  plumbers  in  Ha- 
vana to  do  even  a  small  part  of  the  kind  of  work  in- 
volved, and  it  would  have  been  almost  impossible  to  have 
secured  them  from  the  United  States,  with  the  danger  of 
losing  their  lives  from  exposure  to  deadly  germs  ;  there 
were  no  laborers  to  be  had  to  dig  up  the  streets,  the  isl- 
and being  short,  it  was  estimated,  nearly  200,000  laboring 
men  ;  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  organize  a  great 
force  of  laborers  in  the  United  States  and  to  transport 
them  to  Havana.  All  this  preliminary  work,  the  forma- 
tion of  a  scheme  involving  a  vast  study  of  details,  the 
drawing  of  plans,  the  preparation  and  the  award  of  con- 
tracts, the  importation  of  men  and  materials,  could  not 
have  been  done  in  less  than  sixty  days  after  the  United 
States  took  hold  of  affairs,  to  say  nothing  of  the  litiga- 
tion over  the  Dady  contract  that  might  have  followed, 
and  by  that  time  it  would  have  been  too  late  to  begin. 

Probably  the  most  important  reason  for  General  Lud- 
low's decision  to  put  the  matter  off  for  a  year,  even  at 

106 


PUBLIC    WORKS— STREET-CLEANING 

the  risk  of  a  serious  yellow-fever  epidemic,  was  the  fact 
that  to  establish  a  complete  system  of  sewers  in  Havana 
in  a  short  time  would  simply  paralyze  the  business  of  the 
town  just  when  the  place  needed  all  its  strength  for  re- 
cuperation. The  streets  in  the  business  part  of  Havana 
are  so  narrow  that  vehicles  are  allowed  to  go  only  one 


MONSERRATE   AM)   o'RKII.LY    STREETS — STATUE  OF   GENERAL   TACON 


way  in  them.  There  are  no  sidewalks  in  these  streets 
in  the  sense  that  Americans  know  them.  To  put  down 
a  sewer  in  such  a  street  means  to  block  it  up  completely 
with  piles  of  dirt.  It  will  be  necessary  to  do  this  a  block 
at  a  time  in  Havana  if  the  business  interests  are  to  be 
conserved.  To  stop  all  street  traffic  in  the  business  part 
of  the  town  ;  to  expose  its  people  to  the  possibility  of  a 
frightful  death  -  rate,  just  after  a  war,  because  of  the 
germs  released  from  the  ground;  to  make  haste  in  a 
matter  that  required  the  utmost  deliberation  and  study 
so  that  no  mistakes  should  be  made  in  a  work  intended 

107 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

to  last  for  centuries,  were  things  for  which  General  Lud- 
low would  not  take  the  responsibility. 

Speaking  from  the  standpoint  of  a  layman  in  this  mat- 
ter of  sewering  Havana,  and  after  looking  over  the 
ground,  I  was  convinced  that  General  Ludlow  took  ex- 
actly the  right  step.  It  required  courage  of  the  highest 
order.  Everywhere  there  were  predictions  that  there 
would  be  a  frightful  death-rate  in  the  summer  in  Havana, 
and  General  Ludlow  chose  to  face  that  contingency.  It 
took  courage  to  stand  off  syndicate-hunters  with  pulls 
in  Washington.  The  passage  of  the  clause  in  the  army 
bill  forbidding  the  award  of  franchises  in  Cuba  by  our 
government  probably  took  a  load  off  the  general's  shoul- 
ders. A  thorough,  well  -  developed  system  of  sewering 
the  town  is  now  being  drawn  up,  based  on  scientific  prin- 
ciples, and  when  it  is  ready  the  responsibility  will  fall 
upon  the  authorities  in  Washington  of  saying  whether 
that  plan  or  some  other  plan  shall  be  adopted. 

Meantime  General  Ludlow  went  about  the  work  of 
justifying  his  decision.  He  ordered  a  plant  whereby  a 
disinfectant  is  prepared  from  salt  water  by  electricity, 
and  he  made  arrangements  to  have  the  streets  sprinkled 
constantly.  He  ordered  the  erection  of  a  $35,000  plant 
for  the  burning  of  the  garbage.  He  set  native  Cubans 
at  work  cleaning  out  the  open  ends  of  sewers.  With 
immunes  to  do  the  work,  he  had  public  buildings,  jails, 
and  hospitals  and  the  like,  as  well  as  Morro  Castle  and 
Cabanas  fortress,  Principe  Castle,  and  the  Punta,  made 
wholesome,  and  other  buildings  put  in  order  for  bar- 
racks for  the  troops,  who  were  then  encamped  in  the 
very  places  where  thousands  of  reconcentrados  starved 

108 


PUBLIC    WORKS  — STREET-CLEANING 

and  died.  He  kept  improving  the  street-cleaning  sys- 
tem, and  then  he  took  hold  of  the  matter  of  harbor  im- 
provement. Even  at  the  end  of  the  first  month  of 
American  control  in  Havana,  General  Ludlow  had  the 
great  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  death-rate  for  the  month 
lowered  exactly  one-half,  compared  with  the  correspond- 
ing month  of  the  previous  year  and  before  war  came. 
As  late  as  the  middle  of  June  there  were  no  infectious 
or  contagious  diseases  in  the  city.  That  of  itself  was  an 
amazing  showing.  There  doubtless  will  be  serious  sick- 
ness in  Havana  in  1899,  and  there  may  be  an  epidemic; 
but  I  am  convinced  that  when  the  records  are  all  in, 
it  will  be  found  that  General  Ludlow  not  only  did  a 
brave  thing  in  refusing  to  tear  up  Havana's  streets  at  a 
critical  time,  but  that  he  did  a  wise  thing,  and  he  will 
be  justified  in  the  end.  He  is  face  to  face  at  this  writ- 
ing with  a  grave  responsibility,  and  he  is  meeting  it 
without  flinching.  What  shall  be  done  ultimately  about 
Havana's  sewer  system  I  cannot  say,  but  this  much  I 
am  justified  in  saying — that  no  system  will  be  adopted 
or  put  in  operation  in  Havana,  during  General  Ludlow's 
term  of  office  there  as  military  governor,  which  does  not 
commend  itself  to  his  engineering  sense  of  fitness  and 
right. 

The  matter  of  purifying  Havana  Harbor  is  one  in 
which  nature  will  help  greatly.  With  the  present  sewers 
put  in  a  fairly  good  sanitary  condition,  there  was  really 
only  one  other  source  of  pollution  of  Havana  Harbor. 
It  is  known  as  "  Slaughter  House  Creek,"  a  little  stream 
of  water  up  at  the  head  of  the  harbor,  where  slaughter- 
ing was  done  in  the  city,  and  by  means  of  which  the  offal 

109 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

was  carried  into  the  harbor.  Of  course  one  of  the  first 
things  done  in  cleaning  up  the  town  was  to  regulate  this 
matter  of  slaughtering  animals.  Then  arrangements 
were  made  to  dredge  the  mouth  of  Slaughter  House 
Creek  for  several  hundred  yards.  Dr.  Guiteras,  the  na- 
tional yellow  -  fever  expert,  has  been  quoted  as  saying 
that  the  harbor  in  Havana  was  not  responsible  for  the 


HOW  THE  "NORTHERS      CLEAN  OUT  HAVANA  HARBOR — BEACH  BETWEEN 
MORRO    CASTLE   AND    CABANAS,   SHOWING   CLEAN   CORAL   AND    SAND 


spread  of  yellow-fever.  I  was  surprised  to  find  the  water 
cleaner  in  appearance  than  that  in  the  Hudson  River 
opposite  New  York  City.  The  sewage,  as  was  pointed 
out  by  Colonel  Waring,  that  runs  into  the  harbor  can 
readily  be  cared  for  by  the  mere  process  of  solution. 

Havana's   harbor    has   been    called   dead    because  no 
streams  empty  into  it.     No  current  runs  from  it  into  the 

I  10 


PUBLIC    WORKS  — STREET-CLEANING 

ocean.  That  is  true,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  the  har- 
bor is  never  cleaned  by  nature.  I  saw  no  less  than  three 
storms — "  northers,"  they  are  called — drive  millions  upon 
millions  of  gallons  of  sea-water  into  the  harbor,  until  it 
must  have  been  scoured  thoroughly  with  pure  salt  water, 
one  of  the  best  of  disinfectants.  One  storm  had  such 
fury  that  the  spray  broke  clear  over  Morro  Castle  light. 
It  drenched  General  Ludlow's  palace.  It  made  traffic  in 
the  bay  dangerous.  White-caps  broke  at  the  foot  of  old 
Cabanas.  The  harbor  was  scoured  clear  to  its  upper 
end,  and  when  the  wind  went  down  and  allowed  the 
water  which  had  been  piled  up  in  the  harbor  to  escape, 
thousands  of  tons  of  matter  in  solution  were  swept  out 
into  the  ocean.  Put  in  a  sewer  system  with  most  of 
the  sewers  running  direct  into  the  ocean,  have  the 
matter  that  runs  into  the  bay  from  the  sewers  made 
into  a  solution  by  the  liberal  use  of  the  fine  supply  of 
water  that  Havana  has  —  the  only  thing  in  the  way 
of  public  works  that  was  praiseworthy  —  and  dig  out 
the  poisoned  mud  at  the  mouth  of  Slaughter  House 
Creek,  and  even  a  layman  can  understand  that  Havana 
Harbor  can  be  made  wholesome,  and  that  no  vast  sys- 
tem of  canal  and  channel  cutting  to  create  an  artificial 
movement  of  water  in  the  harbor  is  absolutely  necessary. 
It  will  be  hard  to  convince  contractors  of  this,  however. 

The  American  officials  found  the  water  department  of 
the  city  in  fair  condition.  Havana  has  a  modern  plant  in 
the  matter  of  water-supply.  The  water  is  obtained  from 
a  series  of  springs  in  the  Cerro  district  of  the  city.  Res- 
ervoirs and  conduits  were  put  on  a  modern  basis  in  1894. 
Part  of  the  aqueduct  is  an  open  ditch  in  some  places. 
h  113 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

The  part  of  the  aqueduct  crossing  the  Almendares  River 
was  not  in  good  condition,  but  radical  defects  were  soon 
remedied.  The  greatest  defect  in  the  water-supply  was 
in  the  distribution.     More  of  it  escaped  or  was  stolen 


THE  CORNER   OF   O  REILLY    AND   COMPOSTELLA   STREETS 


than  was  paid  for,  and  that  aspect  of  the  case  led  to  an 
investigation,  which  resulted  to  the  great  pecuniary  ad- 
vantage of  the  city. 

Although  the  water  department  was  the  best  cared  for 
of  all  the  public  works  of  the  city  under  Spanish  rule,  it 
is  a  fact  that  Colonel  Black  did  not  see  any  one  who  had 

114 


PUBLIC    WORKS  — STREET-CLEANING 

been  in  charge  of  the  city's  public  works  for  an  entire 
month.  There  seemed  to  be  no  office  like  that  of  a  city 
engineer,  as  we  understand  it  in  the  States.  Here  is 
what  Colonel  Black  had  to  say  in  respect  to  that  phase 
of  Spanish  official  life  in  his  report  to  General  Ludlow 
on  February  16th  : 

There  was  a  very  small  city  engineers'  force  for  municipal  work. 
By  your  direction  I  assumed  charge  of  that  organization.  It  was 
constituted  as  follows :  One  engineer,  director  of  the  aqueduct 
works,  two  architects,  two  assistants,  ten  draughtsmen  and  clerks, 
a  few  gardeners  for  the  parks,  and  a  small  force  of  watchmen  for 
the  aqueduct.  There  were  no  instruments  of  any  kind,  no  maps 
of  the  sewer  systems,  no  map  showing  street  grades  or  pave- 
ments, and  in  general  practically  nothing  in  the  way  of  the  records 
and  data  deemed  essential  in  such  an  office,  excepting  drawings 
showing  the  aqueduct  and  water-mains.  The  Engineer  Director 
was  reported  to  be  sick,  and  I  saw  nothing  of  him  during  the 
month.  The  office  hours  were  from  2  to  4  p.m.  Nothing  in  the 
way  of  public  work  was  being  done,  and  back  pay  was  due  the  en- 
tire force.  The  duties  of  the  various  men  were  somewhat  in- 
definite, without  a  proper  assignment  of  work  and  responsibility. 

The  remaining  branch  of  the  engineer  work  of  the  department, 
the  care  of  the  harbor  of  Havana  and  its  wharves,  was  in  charge 
of  the  Engineer  Director  of  the  Obras  del  Puerto.  This  organ- 
ization was  also  placed  under  my  orders  by  you.  I  found  it  to  be 
efficient,  with  quite  a  good  plant,  consisting  of  one  tug,  three 
dredges,  seven  scows,  two  pile-drivers,  and  small  boats  and  ap- 
pliances.    It  was  idle  for  lack  of  funds. 

Such  was  the  story  of  the  start  in  the  direction  of  sav- 
ing human  life  and  increasing  the  value  of  property  by 
simple   cleanliness.     When   a  sewer  system   is   decided 

115 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

upon,  and  the  streets  are  dug  up,  it  is  to  be  expected 
that  an  increase  in  the  death-rate  will  follow,  because  of 
the  release  of  fever  germs  from  the  soil  where  they  have 
lain  for  generations.  After  asphalt  pavements  are  put 
down — asphalt  is  one  of  the  natural  products  of  Cuba — 
and  after  the  people  have  learned  not  only  how  to  keep 
the  streets  clean,  but  also  have  learned  something  of 
sanitation,  and  have  educated  themselves  into  abhorring 
bad  smells,  there  should  be  no  reason  why  the  city  should 
not  be  healthful.  But  before  that  comes  about  we  shall 
learn,  through  General  Ludlow's  decision  to  delay  the 
institution  of  sewers  and  to  stick  to  ordinary  cleanliness 
temporarily,  what  the  people  and  the  authorities  of 
Havana  could  have  done  in  saving  life  if  they  had  used 
these  same  simple  methods,  without  going  into  any 
scheme  of  permanent  sanitation. 


CHAPTER   V 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 


NOT  less  important  than  cleaning  the  streets,  pu- 
rifying the  harbor  and  sewers,  protecting  the 
water-supply,  and  putting  all  public  works  in 
proper  order  in  Havana,  was  the  task  of  cleaning  the 
city  from  the  inside,  the  work  of  purifying  the  buildings 
of  every  grade  in  the  town.  Inside  thousands  of  dwell- 
ings were  "  black  holes  "  in  a  frightful  condition.  The 
walls  of  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  buildings  were 
the  abiding-places  of  germs  of  yellow-fever  and  other 
infectious  diseases.  A  building  without  an  offensive 
odor  in  it,  whether  the  home  of  a  wealthy  citizen,  the 
business  place  of  a  rich  merchant,  a  so-called  first-class 
hotel,  a  factory,  or  even  some  churches,  was  a  still  rarer 
thing  than  honesty  in  dealings  at  the  Custom  -  house. 
Whether  a  sewer  system  and  street  pavements  should  be 
put  down  at  once  or  delayed  for  another  year,  it  was 
obvious  to  the  American  authorities  that  the  buildings 
must  be  cleaned,  as  a  primary  necessity  in  keeping  down 
the  death-rate,  in  endeavoring  to  prevent  yellow-fever 
from  reaching  American  shores,  and  in  preserving  the 
health  of  American  soldiers. 

General  Greene,  the  first  military  governor  of  the  city 

117 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

after  the  Spanish  evacuation,  at  once  set  about  having 
the  buildings  cleaned,  as  he  had  set  about  having  the 
streets  cleaned  and  the  public  works  put  in  order.  The 
man  placed  in  charge  of  this  work  was  Major  John  G. 
Davis,  a  Chicago  physician  of  large  practice  and  wide 
reputation.  Major  Davis  really  became  the  health-offi- 
cer of  Havana.  General  Ludlow,  who  relieved  General 
Greene,  gave  him  the  heartiest  support.  Major  Davis  is 
one  of  those  military  officers  who  do  things.  He  has  the 
energy  of  an  eager  business  man.  I  could  not  find  any 
tendency  on  his  part  to  shut  down  his  desk  at  a  certain 
hour  every  day;  to  pay  undue  attention  to  the  matter  of 
rank  or  red-tape  when  there  were  lives  to  be  saved;  to 
spend  time  in  the  exercise  of  petty  jealousies  lest  full 
and  proper  credit  and  due  promotion  should  not  be  given 
to  him  for  his  work.  His  sole  care  seemed  to  be  to  get 
the  town  in  a  more  healthful  condition  and  let  every- 
thing else  go.  He  worked  constantly  and  never  seemed 
to  tire,  and  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  death- 
rate  for  the  month  of  January,  the  first  full  month  of  his 
work,  cut  almost  exactly  in  half,  compared  with  the  Jan- 
uary of  the  previous  year.  In  January,  1898,  the  deaths 
in  Havana  numbered,  according  to  the  imperfect  ac- 
counts of  the  Spanish  authorities,  1801;  in  1899,  under 
the  accurate  system  of  records  made  by  the  Americans, 
the  deaths  were  900.  Month  by  month  up  to  the  begin- 
ning of  summer  the  records  showed  a  still  decreasing 
death-rate. 

A  house-to-house  medical  inspection  in  the  city  was 
necessary.  For  this  purpose  Major  Davis  employed  114 
physicians,  most  of  them  Cubans  and  residents  of  the 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 

city.  The  town  was  divided  into  districts,  and  a  cer- 
tain territory  apportioned  to  each  inspector.  It  took 
time  to  organize  the  force,  to  prepare  report  blanks,  and 
the  like;  but  during  the  first  week  in  February  the  build- 
ings of  the  city  were  being  inspected  at  the  rate  of  1200 


MAJOR     JOHN     O.    DAWS,    U.   S.    V., 
DEPARTMENT   OF   SANITATION 


a  day.  This  inspection  was  no  informal  hit -or- miss 
affair.  It  meant  an  examination  into  every  room,  every 
court,  and  every  yard  of  every  building  in  town,  whether 
that  building  was  occupied  or  owned  by  rich  or  poor  or 
high  or  low.  It  meant  an  inspection  of  every  cesspool 
and  the  condition  of  the  water-supply  in  every  building. 

119 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

For  each  inspection  a  report  had  to  be  made  out,  show- 
ing the  street  and  number  of  the  building,  name  of  the 
owner  and  occupants,  dimensions  of  the  building,  and 
the  purposes  for  which  it  was  used ;  number  of  families 
and  persons,  adults  and  children,  in  it ;  whether  there 
was  any  sickness  in  the  place,  and  if  so,  of  what  nature ; 
what  was  done  with  the  household  waste  of  every  kind ; 
number  of  cesspools,  or  "black  holes,"  and  their  con- 
dition; the  condition  of  drainage;  the  disposition  of  gar- 
bage; whether  there  was  need  of  vaccination  of  residents; 
and  whether  there  was  or  ever  had  been  any  infectious 
disease  in  the  building.  There  were  some  other  ques- 
tions of  minor  importance. 

This  system  of  inspection  and  reports  amounted  really 
to  a  health  census  of  the  town.  It  contained  data  of  the 
highest  importance  for  various  municipal  purposes,  espe- 
cially matters  pertaining  to  the  destitute  and  sick.  It 
was  necessary  to  examine  every  report  carefully.  Eleven 
clerks  were  kept  busy  sending  out  notices  to  owners  and 
occupants  of  the  houses  inspected,  ordering  them  to  do 
certain  things  towards  putting  the  places  in  a  good 
sanitary  condition.  Whitewashing  was  ordered  nearly 
everywhere.  Thousands  of  cesspools  were  ordered  to  be 
cleaned  and  improved.  Directions  were  given  to  put  all 
garbage  where  it  could  be  collected  by  the  wagons  under 
the  Street  -  cleaning  Department.  Where  it  could  be 
done,  modern  water-closets  were  ordered  to  be  installed. 
Liberal  use  of  paint  was  prescribed  in  thousands  of 
places. 

The  examining  physicians  had  not  only  to  inspect,  but 
to  reinspect.     They  adopted  a  system  of  doing  this,  and 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 

householders  who  neglected  to  comply  with  their  orders 
were  notified  that  they  would  be  arrested  and  fined. 
Major  Davis  encountered  little  opposition  from  the  peo- 
ple in  his  work.  Here  and  there  one  heard  of  complaints 
against  this  or  that  inspector,  and  assertions,  largely  by 
persons  who  kept  their  homes  clean  and  who  had  means, 
that  it  was  an  outrage  not  to  respect  the  privacy  of 


THE   PRESIDIO,   NOW   THE  CITY    PENITENTIARY 


homes.  But  all  such  persons,  and  those  who  sympa- 
thized with  them,  forgot  that  the  city  was  under  mili- 
tary rule,  and  that  the  health  of  the  place  demanded 
that  all  should  be  treated  alike  in  this  grapple  with  dis- 
ease in  its  hiding-places.  Some  of  the  householders 
asked  for  time  in  which  to  make  repairs  and  to  clean 
up,  and  it  was  usually  given  to  them.     In  most  cases 

121 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  time  limit  for  thorough  cleaning  was  set  at  thirty 
days. 

Now  it  was  not  easy  to  secure  material  or  men  to  clean 
places.  In  the  first  days  of  American  occupation  large 
quantities  of  lime  and  disinfectants,  used  by  the  mili- 
tary authorities  in  cleaning  public  buildings,  had  to  be 
brought  from  the  United  States  on  hurry  orders.  There 
was  not  enough  paint  in  the  city  with  which  to  obey  the 
orders  by  Major  Davis's  men.  It  had  to  be  sent  for,  and 
brushes  with  which  to  do  the  work  had  also  to  be  im- 
ported. There  was  a  great  scarcity  of  workmen,  such  as 
painters  and  plumbers  and  carpenters,  and  even  day- 
laborers  could  not  be  hired,  for  there  was  none  in  good 
health  not  at  work.  The  price  of  labor  rose,  and  for  all 
these  reasons  it  was  absolutely  essential  that  time  should 
be  given  for  the  needed  changes.  Still,  there  was  work 
that  could  be  done  in  almost  every  place,  and  instantly 
the  effect  was  felt  in  the  reduced  death-rate. 

This  inspection  work  was  only  part  of  the  duty  that 
fell  to  the  lot  of  Major  Davis  as  chief  health-officer.  One 
of  his  first  tasks  was  to  inspect  the  streets,  so  that  an 
efficient  basis  for  street -cleaning  could  be  established. 
Every  street  in  town  was  examined.  Reports  of  their 
condition  went  to  the  Department  of  Public  Works  un- 
der Colonel  Black.  It  was  a  big  undertaking.  Then 
there  was  the  matter  of  caring  for  the  destitute  sick. 
The  inspection  reports  revealed  their  condition  and  ad- 
dresses. A  dozen  physicians  were  employed  in  caring 
for  these  persons. 

Another  duty  was  the  task  of  analyzing  the  milk  of 
the  dairies  in  town,  and  of  that  which  was  brought  into 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 

town.  One  of  the  sights  in  Havana  was  a  dairy.  The 
cows  were  kept  in  buildings  such  as  are  used  for  resi- 
dences or  stores,  and  were  in  plain  sight.  They  stood 
in  a  stall  constantly,  and  never  had  any  grazing  or  exer- 
cise. The  stables  were  usually  in  bad  sanitary  condition, 
and  a  danger  to  health  for  the  entire  neighborhood.  The 
manure  was  not  cared  for  on  sanitary  principles.  Dr. 
Davis  told  me  that,  judging  from  the  reports  he  had  re- 
ceived already,  he  thought  there  must  have  been  at  least 
rooo  cows  kept  in  these  close  quarters  in  the  city  for 
dairy  purposes.  He  declared  that  it  was  his  intention  to 
drive  every  one  of  these  dairies  out  of  town. 

Dr.  Davis  had  to  care  for  the  municipal  hospitals,  and 
to  see  that  they  were  supplied  with  medicines  and  proper 
medical  help.  He  established  five  houses  of  assistance, 
where  those  needing  medicine  could  have  their  wants 
prescribed  for.  He  also  designated  certain  drug- stores 
in  various  parts  of  the  city  where  prescriptions  would  be 
put  up  at  government  expense  for  those  who  had  no 
money  to  purchase  such  necessaries.  He  looked  after  the 
medical  condition  of  the  orphans, and  co-operated  with 
those  who  had  charge  of  feeding  the  poor.  By  means 
of  this  system  begging  lepers  were  banished  from  the 
streets,  and  one  of  the  most  loathsome  sights  of  the 
place  in  the  early  days  of  American  occupation  was  soon 
gone. 

Although  the  work  of  cleaning  the  public  buildings 
came  under  the  care  of  Colonel  Black  of  the  Public 
Works  Department,  Major  Davis  had  to  pass  upon  it 
and  inspect  it.  There  were  no  less  than  eighteen  of 
these  large  buildings  being  cleaned  during  the  month  of 

125 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

January.  All  the  barracks  in  town,  all  the  palaces  of 
officials,  all  the  public  offices,  were  undergoing  a  thorough 
cleansing.  Even  Morro  Castle  and  Cabanas  fortress 
were  closed  to  visitors  on  this  account.  All  the  rough 
work  was  done  by  Cubans  who  were  supposed  to  be 
immune  to  yellow-fever.  The  buildings  were  "rough 
cleaned  "  by  them  and  large  quautities  of  quick-lime  and 
a  solution  of  chloride  of  lime  were  used.  Then  came  coats 
of  paint  or  whitewash,  with  repairs  to  wood-work,  and  a 
thorough  disinfection  by  the  sanitary  department.  The 
Spaniards  left  the  public  buildings  in  a  frightful  condi- 
tion. They  stripped  the  places  of  everything  that  could 
be  sold,  including  plumbing,  gas -fixtures,  wash-stands, 
doors  to  closets,  bath-tubs,  and  furniture,  and  seemed  to 
take  delight  in  making  the  places  as  dirty  as  possible.  A 
curious  discovery  was  made  in  one  of  the  public  build- 
ings at  the  foot  of  Zulueta  Street.  It  was  a  barracks, 
and  had  a  new  floor.  It  was  thought  wise  to  pry  up  a 
board  or  two.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  officials,  the 
entire  space  between  the  floor  beams  was  filled  with  old 
grape-shot  and  cannon-balls.  There  must  have  been 
from  twenty  to  thirty  tons  in  the  place.  The  floor  was 
literally  ballasted,  and  no  one  could  guess  the  reason, 
unless  it  might  be  a  steal  of  some  kind  requiring  that 
the  old  stuff  should  be  hidden. 

Major  Davis  had  the  medical  care  of  the  American 
soldiers  in  Havana  to  look  after,  as  well  as  to  prepare 
estimates  for  his  department,  supervise  the  work  of  his 
clerks,  and  co-operate  with  other  departments  in  order- 
ing supplies  from  the  United  States  for  the  preservation 
of  the  health  of  the  community.  One  of  these  orders  was 

126 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 

for  a  large  number  of  odorless  excavators  for  the  clean- 
ing of  the  terrible  "  black  holes  "  in  the  town. 

In  justification  of  his  hopes  of  reducing  the  number 
of  yellow-fever  cases  to  a  large  extent,  Dr.  Davis  allowed 
me  to  make  this  extract  from  a  letter  written  on  Febru- 
ary 6th  to  him  by  Dr.  Manuel  Delfin,  an  expert  of  high 
repute  in  yellow-fever  cases  : 

From  now  on  I  feel  assured  that  if  the  cleaning  the  streets  is 
kept  up,  and  that  of  the  houses  is  continued,  obliging  the  owners 
to  put  in  water  and  modern  water-closets,  and.  above  all,  the 
streets  are  sprinkled  with  electrozone,  that  also  could  be  em- 
ployed in  the  cleaning  and  disinfection  of  houses  and  public 
buildings,  I  feel  assured  that  the  coming  summer  will  appear  in 
our  history  as  the  foremark  of  the  endless  series  that  the  future 
has  for  a  new  era  in  civilization. 

Although  it  was  not  strictly  sanitary  in  character,  the 
work  of  feeding  the  poor  of  the  city  contributed  in  large 
degree  to  the  improved  healthful  conditions  of  the  city, 
and  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  tell  the  story  of  that 
work  here.  This  task  was  under  the  direction  of  Captain 
E.  St.  John  Greble,  a  volunteer  officer  from  Philadelphia, 
whose  tact,  unlimited  patience,  and  sympathetic  temper- 
ament made  him  peculiarly  fitted  to  the  undertaking. 
It  brought  him  in  direct  contact  with  the  sad  and  pitiful 
side  of  life  in  Havana.  During  January  and  February 
no  less  than  20,000  persons  were  being  fed  by  the  United 
States  government  through  army  agencies,  and  in  the 
first  week  in  February  Captain  Greble  said  to  me  that 
he  believed  that  there  were  no  persons  in  town  suffering 
from  a  lack  of  food.     He  had  no  doubt  that  in  the  early 

127 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

work  of  his  bureau  he  and  his  officers  had  been  imposed 
upon  here  and  there,  but  it  was  no  time  for  complete  in- 
vestigation. Wherever  a  hungry  face,  or  what  seemed 
to  be  a  hungry  face,  was  seen,  immediate  aid  was  given, 
and  Captain  Greble  had  to  take  chances  as  to  impostors. 
He  had  to  provide  for  the  orphan  children,  many  of 
whom  were  being  cared  for  by  Catholic  Sisters  in  public 
institutions,  and  many  of  whom  had  no  homes,  nor  even 
distant  relatives.  Scores  of  them  had  slept  on  the  streets 
and  had  begged  their  food.  Their  condition  was  such 
that  even  a  strong  man  could  not  notice  it  without  a 
shudder. 

Then  there  were  the  widows  of  Spanish  officers  in  the 
Casa  de  las  Viudas — Home  of  the  Widows — left  behind  in 
Cuba  without  support  of  any  kind.  They  were  refined 
and  highly  educated,  many  of  them,  and  too  proud  to  ask 
for  charity.  They  were  timid  about  seeking  assistance 
from  the  United  States  government,  because  their  hus- 
bands had  been  Spanish  officers.  In  making  a  public  ap- 
peal in  their  behalf,  General  Ludlow  referred  to  these 
widows  as  a  "  unique  and  pitiful  legacy  "  of  Spanish  rule. 
Mrs.  Ludlow  generously  offered  to  take  charge  of  the 
work  of  applying  any  assistance  that  might  be  sent  to 
Havana  on  their  behalf. 

Captain  Greble  reached  Havana  on  December  15,  1898, 
and  at  once  took  hold  of  the  work  of  feeding  the  desti- 
tute. As  soon  as  the  Spanish  forces  left  the  city  he  be- 
gan to  put  a  system  in  operation.  He  established  five 
military  depots,  where  food  was  given  to  the  poor  on 
presentation  of  orders  duly  signed  by  the  authorities. 
The  station  that  attracted  most  attention  from  visitors 

128 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 

was  at  the  head  of  the  Prado,  where  several  companies  of 
the  Tenth  Regular  Infantry  were  encamped.  A  large 
tent  faced  the  street,  and  about  it  was  built  a  fence  with 
a  sort  of  shelf  on  top.  The  fence  seemed  to  be  thronged 
all  the  time.     It  was  there  that  one  saw  to  the  best  ad- 


CAPTAIN    E.    ST.   J.    GREBLE,    U.   S.  V., 
DEPARTMENT  OK  FOOD-SUPPLIES 


vantage  what  the  war  meant  to  the  people  of  Havana. 
Many  refined  persons  plainly  showed  their  humiliation 
as  they  carried  away  food  to  their  homes.  Tears  stood 
in  their  eyes  ;  a  look  of  pitiful  humiliation  was  on  their 
faces,  mingled  with  one  of  gratitude.  Some  were  hardly 
able  to  walk.  Many  brought  boys  with  them  to  carry 
away  their  rations.  Many  were  old  and  feeble,  and  the 
i  129 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

patience  with  which  they  stood  about  awaiting  their 
turns  to  be  served  touched  the  American  spectators  who 
had  strolled  up  to  see  one  of  the  sights  of  the  town.  It 
was  not  an  infrequent  sight  to  see  pieces  of  coin  slipped 
into  the  hands  of  applicants,  or  placed  upon  the  board 
shelf  where  they  might  be  picked  up.  From  morning 
till  night  the  detail  of  soldiers  dealt  out  the  rations,  and 
although  it  was  a  dreary  task,  Uncle  Sam's  boys  did  their 
best  to  throw  some  cheer  into  it  by  attempts  at  humor 
in  their  talk,  and  occasionally  by  cutting  up  some  caper 
that  made  the  wretched  people  go  away  with  a  smile. 
Those  smiles  seemed  to  satisfy  the  soldier  boys  keenly. 

I  spent  some  time  at  this  tent  watching  the  soldiers 
fill  the  bags  of  the  applicants.  Rarely  less  than  five 
rations  were  given  in  any  one  case.  Five  rations  con- 
sisted usually  of  three  one-quarter-pound  cans  of  bacon, 
four  pounds  of  flour,  five  ounces  of  coffee,  eight  ounces 
of  sugar,  three  ounces  of  salt,  five  ounces  of  rice,  one-fifth 
of  an  ounce  of  pepper,  a  little  vinegar  and  soap  thrown 
in.  For  the  sick  the  rations  included  corn-starch,  con- 
densed milk,  deviled  ham,  canned  soup,  and  dried  apples 
in  addition  to  the  regulation  rations. 

In  the  first  days  of  feeding  the  poor,  Captain  Greble 
received  hundreds  of  applicants  at  his  office,  where  clerks 
made  out  requisitions  for  food.  So  far  as  he  could, 
Captain  Greble  personally  questioned  the  applicant,  and 
listened  to  his  or  her  story.  Gradually  a  system  was 
evolved  and  put  in  operation,  whereby  committees  from 
the  Cuban  Patriotic  League,  the  Junta  Patriotica,  were 
established  in  every  ward  in  the  city,  subsidiary  to  the  five 
relief  stations,  and  through  these  every  house  was  visited 

130 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 

and  all  worthy  persons  were  provided  for.  The  needy 
soon  found  out  where  to  apply,  and  the  districts  were  so 
small  in  territory  that  there  was  little  likelihood  that  any 
hungry  person  was  overlooked.  In  this  way  something 
like  20,000  rations  a  day  were  distributed,  the  supplies 


- 

DESTITUTE    CUBANS    DRAWING     RATIONS     FROM    THE 

RELIEF    STATION    ON    THE    PRADO 

Photograph  by  C.  E.  Doty  and  S.  R.  Pox 


amounting  to  food  for  as  much  as  thirty  days  in  some 
cases.  From  six  to  ten  days'  supply  was  the  average 
amount  given  out.  Ladies  long  identified  with  charitable 
work,  and  pastors  of  churches  also,  assisted  in  recommend- 
ing deserving  cases  to  Captain  Greble  and  his  men,  and 
in  that  way  distress  from  hunger  was  soon  relieved  in  the 
city.  Here  is  a  blank  form,  made  out  for  me  by  Captain 
Greble,  which  will  reveal  something  of  the  system  in- 

131 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

volved,  and  the  thoroughness  and  care  with  which  this 
important  work  was  done  : 

DESTITUTE    RATIONS 

Havana,  February  7,  1899. 

Name,  Adriana  de  San  Juan,  widow. 

Address,  Teniente  Rey,  No.  56. 

.  .  7J  (    Males,  No 

Adults -J 

(    Females,  No 1 

Children,  total  No 6 

Ages,  males,  2,  7. 

Ages,  females,  3,  5,  8,  13.  — 

Total  in  family 7 

Remarks — Destitute  and  sick  with  fever.     Four  children  sick. 
Two  in  bed.     Investigated. 

Officer  in  Charge  of  Station  at  Campo  de  Marte.     Issue  70  ra- 
tions, 7  persons,  for  10  days. 

E.  S.  J.  Greble, 
Capt.  and  A.  A.  General. 

The  case  of  the  Spanish  widows,  to  which  General  Lud- 
low referred  in  his  appeal,  was  peculiarly  sad.  They  were 
housed  in  a  large  institution,  built  partly  by  convict  labor 
and  partly  by  military  labor.  The  inmates  were  sup- 
ported in  part  by  the  government  of  the  island,  and  in ' 
part  by  contributions  from  the  salaries  of  Spanish  offi- 
cers. Some  of  the  widows  were  very  old,  having  spent 
most  of  their  lives  in  Cuba.  Some  were  born  in  Cuba, 
but  most  of  them  were  from  Spain.  They  were  a  mourn- 
ful reminder  of  war  and  its  penalties,  and  they  were  rec- 
ognized as  part  of  the  Spanish  military  outfit  in  Cuba. 
The  Spanish  troops  sailed  away,  and  simply  abandoned 
them  to  the  vicissitudes  of  a  new  order  of  things.     Their 

132 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 

pensions  had  not  been  paid  for  more  than  a  year  and  a 
half,  and  with  the  revenues  from  the  salaries  of  Spanish 
officers  cut  off  entirely,  they  were  in  a  deplorable  plight. 
There  were  seventy  women  of  various  ages  in  the  home, 
and  ninety  girls  and  fifty  boys.  They  were  almost  with- 
out friends,  and  suffered  keenly  before  they  allowed  their 
condition  to  become  known  to  the  American  authorities. 
Some  were  able  to  do  such  work  as  teaching,  but  there 
was  none  to  be  had. 

Other  public  institutions  called  for  immediate  atten- 
tion. There  was  the  Casa  de  Beneficencia,  upon  which 
several  hundred  persons  were  dependent.  This  institu- 
tion has  property  estimated  to  be  worth  something  like 
$1,250,000,  but  its  income  was  cut  off.  Captain  Greble 
sold  it  5000  rations  at  eight  cents  each,  to  be  paid  for  when 
the  institution  should  again  be  in  receipt  of  its  income. 
The  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  the  Sisters  of  the 
Heart  of  Our  Lord  were  caring  for  many  orphans,  and 
Captain  Greble  went  to  their  assistance  as  quickly  as  he 
could.  His  first  care  had  been,  of  course,  the  feeding  of 
the  absolutely  destitute  on  the  streets.  These  were  pro- 
vided with  shelter  as  well  as  food,  in  barracks  which  were 
made  clean.  Some  of  these  destitute  persons  were  aged, 
but  a  good  many  were  orphans.  Arrangements  were 
made  to  place  most  of  the  orphans  found  on  the  streets 
in  asylums,  the  government  paying  ten  dollars  a  month 
for  their  maintenance,  with  the  understanding  that  they 
were  to  receive  instruction  in  some  trade  in  addition  to 
other  schooling. 

Soon  after  Captain  Greble  began  to  get  his  city  work 
organized  he  also  turned  his  attention  to  the  suburbs. 

i33 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Reports  of  starving  people  in  the  country  reached  him. 
He  sent  out  an  officer,  who  looked  the  situation  over,  put 
himself  in  touch  with  the  officials  of  the  places  and  the 
women  leaders  in  charitable  work,  and  then  had  sent  in 
reports  as  to  about  the  number  of  rations  that  would  be 
needed  for  a  given  time.  Blank  forms  of  requisition  were 
left  to  be  filled  up,  and  the  first  wagon-train  with  food  to 
sustain  these  people  was  sent  out  early  in  February.  It 
was  a  pleasing  sight  to  see  these  heavily  laden  wagons 
starting  on  this  errand.  There  were  twenty  wagons,  each 
drawn  by  four  mules,  and  each  having  one  non-commis- 
sioned officer  and  four  privates  to  deal  out  the  food.  The 
wagons  made  a  noise  as  they  rumbled  through  the  streets 
like  an  enormous  circus  outfit  coming  into  a  stone-paved 
city  at  night.  The  train  seemed  to  be  fully  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  long,  and  it  left  town  with  signs  of  public  approval 
on  all  sides.  In  a  few  days  all  the  needy  within  reason- 
able wagon  travel  of  Havana  had  been  supplied  with  food 
for  at  least  ten  days.  The  work  was  to  be  kept  up  until 
there  was  no  longer  occasion  for  it. 

In  all  this  work  of  relieving  the  destitute  there  were 
bound  to  be  some  unworthy  cases.  When  the  machin- 
ery was  organized  thoroughly  Captain  Greble  began  to 
look  for  these.  He  began  to  study  the  requisitions,  and 
here  and  there  he  was  able  to  find  a  case  where  there 
was  imposition.  The  day  before  I  left  town  he  had  dis- 
covered a  flagrant  case  of  fraud.  A  woman  of  refined 
appearance  had  simply  been  filling  up  her  place  with 
rations  secured  by  misrepresentation.  It  may  have  been 
fear  that  the  food  would  be  cut  off  some  day,  or  it  may 
have  been  just  an  ordinary  desire  to  steal,  that  caused  her 

i34 


SANITATION    IN    HAVANA 

to  do  as  she  did,  but  the  result  was  that  she  was  arrested 
promptly  and  placed  in  jail,  to  be  dealt  with  by  the  courts. 
Thus  not  only  was  the  city  cleaned  inside  and  outside, 
but  the  people  were  built  up  in  health.  There  was  no 
complaint,  from  those  whose  suffering  had  been  relieved, 
of  the  military  occupation  of  Cuba  by  the  United  States. 


WITHIN   THE  TENTH   U.  s.  INFANTRY  S   RELIEF  STATION 
ON    THE   l'KADO 

Although  in  no  way  connected  with  the  military  occu- 
pation of  Cuba,  the  branch  of  the  Marine  Hospital  Ser- 
vice established  in  Havana  contributes  largely  to  the 
protection  of  this  country  from  infection,  and  therefore 
is  part  of  the  general  system  of  health  restoration  there. 
As  far  back  as  1878  this  government  established  an  office 
in  Havana,  under  the  National  Board  of  Health,  to  study 
yellow-fever,  and  to  protect  this  country  from  it.     In 

135 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

1883  this  work  was  transferred  to  the  Marine  Hospital 
Service,  under  the  Treasury  Department.  Its  work  is 
to  inspect  vessels  and  passengers  coming  to  this  country. 
Dr.  W.  F.  Brunner  was  in  charge  of  the  work  until  July, 
1899.  He  was  one  of  the  last  to  leave  Havana  when  the 
war  came,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  return.  He 
played  an  important  part  in  the  visit  of  Americans  to 
Havana.  It  was  essential  that  all  visitors  should  appear 
at  his  office.  Unless  the  visitor  had  been  vaccinated  and 
had  "  good  marks  "  to  show,  he  could  not  leave  the  island 
for  the  United  States  until  vaccinated  and  the  vaccina- 
tion had  begun  to  "  take."  The  day  before  one  left  he 
had  to  go  to  Dr.  Brunner's  office  and  get  a  bill  of  good 
health.  No  steamship  line  may  sell  a  ticket  to  this 
country  without  such  a  certificate.  One  of  the  office 
assistants  goes  to  each  vessel,  and  leaves  it  just  as  the 
anchor  is  pulled  up.  He  takes  a  final  look  at  all  the 
passengers  before  they  sail. 

This  office  is  one  of  the  busiest  places  in  Havana.  A 
dozen  cabs  are  to  be  seen  in  front  of  it  at  almost  any 
hour  of  the  day.  The  authorities  have  given  orders  for 
a  disinfecting-vessel  to  be  stationed  at  Havana  under 
the  Marine  Hospital  Service.  Passengers  and  sailors, 
baggage  and  other  goods,  can  be  disinfected  thoroughly 
by  such  means  before  sailing.  When  Havana  really  be- 
comes clean,  and  when  all  these  precautions  which  have 
been  adopted  are  in  working  order,  doubtless,  not  only 
will  Havana  and  other  parts  of  Cuba  be  freed  from  the 
dreadful  scourge  of  yellow -fever,  but  the  southern  part 
of  the  United  States  will  no  longer  suffer  from  that  form 
of  epidemic. 

136 


CHAPTER  VI 

AN   HONEST   CUSTOMS   SERVICE   IN   CUBA 

ONLY  a  few  days  had  elapsed  after  the  Spanish 
evacuation  of  Havana,  and  after  the  United 
States  army  officials  had  taken  charge  of  the 
government  in  all  its  branches,  when  the  merchants  of 
the  city  began  to  realize  that  the  strangest  thing  in  all 
the  world  had  happened.  The  Custom-house  was  being 
run  honestly.  Even  money  collected  in  overcharges  was 
being  refunded,  and  the  fortunes  of  war  could  have 
brought  about  nothing  so  unexpected.  It  was  almost  im- 
possible to  believe  that  honesty  ruled  there.  Tests  had 
to  be  made.  A  blackmailer  made  one  of  the  first  of  these 
tests.  Corrupt  officials  still  in  the  service  made  another 
test.  It  took  the  form  of  a  strike,  but  it  was  nipped  in 
the  bud  in  a  flash.  Merchants  who  preferred  evil  ways 
to  those  of  honesty  tried  to  force  a  return  in  part  to 
former  crooked  paths.  A  show  of  firmness  and  the 
turning  of  the  light  upon  them  sent  them  scurrying 
away.  Attack  after  attack  was  made  in  the  dark  to  re- 
veal weak  spots  in  the  system  of  honesty,  and  every  man 
left  in  Havana  of  the  gang  of  thieves,  blackmailers,  pil- 
ferers, and  plunder-sharers  that  had  infested  the  Havana 
Custom  -  house   turned  away  discouraged  and   forlorn. 

i37 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

The  last  refuge  of  such  men,  the  dissemination  of  plau- 
sible lies,  seemed  to  have  no  effect.  Alas  for  the  stupid- 
ity of  American  officials !  Would  they  never  learn  the 
lesson  that  they  could  not  become  rich  by  being  honest 
in  custom-house  dealings !  And  such  a  chance  as  they 
had! 

The  astonishment  of  the  people  of  Havana  over  the 
new  situation  centred  upon  two  men.     The  first  man 


COLONEL   T.  H.  BLISS,  U.  S.  A., 
COLLECTOR   OF   CUSTOMS,  HAVANA 


was  Colonel  Tasker  H.  Bliss,  Collector  of  the  Port  of 
Havana,  and  in  charge  of  all  the  other  custom-houses  in 
the  island,  reporting  directly  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 

138 


HONEST   CUSTOMS   SERVICE    IN   CUBA 

The  other  man  was  Walter  A.  Donaldson,  special  Dep- 
uty Collector  of  the  Port,  of  many  years'  experience  in 
custom-house  matters  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States,  familiar  with  the  Spanish  language  and  Spanish 
customs,  able  to  guide  his  chief,  Colonel  Bliss,  who  had 
never  had  experience  in  collecting  revenue  from  cus- 
toms duties,  through  devious  ways  hedged  about  with 
technicalities.  Colonel  Bliss,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  an  efficient  officer  of  the  army,  had  an  idea 
that  the  way  to  collect  was  to  collect.  He  set  himself 
about  finding  out  what  he  had  to  collect,  and  then  about 
doing  it  in  the  most  direct  and  straightforward  way. 
He  had  another  quality,  found  always  in  the  best  type 
of  American  army  officers— true  courtesy  and  regard 
for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others.  In  Mr.  Donald- 
son, who  had  had  more  than  twenty  years'  experience 
in  such  work,  a  large  part  of  it  being  in  New  York  City, 
and  who  had  already  reorganized  the  customs  service  in 
the  province  of  Santiago,  he  had  a  most  efficient  and 
loyal  assistant,  a  thorough  believer  in  the  methods  of 
civil  service  reform,  a  man  who  held  that  the  public 
service  of  the  country  should  be  administered  solely 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  and  not  for  the  political 
fortune  of  some  party  hack,  and  whose  ideas  regarding 
public  office  and  politics  had  a  rock-bottom  basis  of  com- 
mon all-around  honesty.  Between  them  they  arranged 
it  that  there  could  be  no  stealing  except  by  collusion 
with  the  collector. 

These  two  men  not  only  had  to  put  in  force  a  new 
schedule  of  duties  and  straighten  out  its  problems  and 
puzzles,  but  they  had  to  begin  work  with  a  force  re- 

i39 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

duced  by  one-third,  owing  to  desertions  for  fear  of  los- 
ing Spanish  pensions,  and  used  only  to  the  corrupt 
methods  of  the  past — a  force  fearful  lest  its  members 
should  lose  their  places ;  almost  incapable  of  any  initia- 
tive of  its  own.  There  were  no  blanks  and  rules  for 
management  of  details.  Records  left  behind  were  value- 
less. There  was  not  even  a  pay-roll,  and  there  was 
nothing  to  do  but  to  plunge  right  in  and  evolve  a  new 
order  of  things,  little  by  little,  out  of  the  confusion  that 
resulted. 

What  the  Custom-house  in  Havana  was  under  Span- 
ish rule  need  not  be  told  at  length.  Every  one  knows 
that  it  was  the  place  from  which  corrupt  captain-gen- 
erals and  other  high  officials  were  supposed  to  obtain 
the  largest  share  of  their  stolen  wealth,  some  of  which 
undoubtedly  went  to  Spain  for  division  with  other  men. 
If  there  wTas  any  strictly  honest  transaction  within 
its  walls  it  was  the  exception,  not  the  rule.  The  place 
had  a  withering  influence  upon  morality  in  business  life. 
It  was  unclean,  in  more  ways  than  one,  from  top  to  bot- 
tom. Mr.  Robert  P.  Porter,  who  drew  up  the  new  tariff, 
said  of  the  so-called  tariff  which  was  in  force  that  it 
"  was  made  by  Spaniards  for  Spain,  in  the  interests 
of  the  Spanish.  On  any  other  theory  it  was  inexpli- 
cable." 

What  the  tariff  receipts  meant  for  Spanish  officials  in 
Cuba  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  letter,  written 
to  the  Collector  of  Customs  by  General  Castellanos  on 
the  very  last  day  of  his  term  as  captain-general  of  the 
island,  and  found  later  in  the  Custom-house  : 

140 


HONEST   CUSTOMS   SERVICE    IN    CUBA 

El  Gobernador-General, 

Capitan-General 
de  la 
Particular.  Isla  de  Cuba. 

Sr.  Dn.  Anibal  Arriete  : 

Mi  distinguido  Amigo, — Pueden  Vds.  seguir  cobrando  en 
esa  Aduana  hasta  las  siete  de  la  noche.  Para  recibir  lo  recau- 
dado  hoy  estara  la  pagaderia  abierta  hasta  las  diez. 

Cualquier  hora  es  buena  para  venir  Vd.  a  verme,  pues  hoy  no 
pienso  salir  de  casa.  De  Vd.  affmo  amigo  S.S., 

Adolfo  J.  Castellanos. 
Habana,  31  Diciembre,  '98. 

This  translation  was  furnished  to  me  by  the  customs 
officials  in  Havana: 

The  Governor-General, 

Captain-General 
of  the 
Private.  Island  of  Cuba. 

Mr.  Anibal  Arriete : 

My  distinguished  Friend,— Your  people  can  keep  on  col- 
lecting in  the  Custom-house  until  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
In  order  to  receive  to-day's  collection  the  Treasury  will  be  open 
until  ten. 

You  may  come  to  see  me  at  any  time,  as  I  do  not  intend  to  go 
out  of  the  house  to-day.  Sincerely  your  friend, 

Adolfo  J.  Castellanos. 
Havana,  December  31,  1898. 

That  letter  seems  to  be  of  some  historical  importance. 
I  have  no  knowledge  that  General  Castellanos  and  bis 
"  distinguished  friend,"  Senor  Don  Anibal  Arriete,  the 
last  Spanish  Collector  of  Customs  in  Havana,  were  cor- 

H3 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

nipt,  and  I  do  not  so  charge  ;  but  it  is  unnecessary  to 
call  attention  to  the  construction  that  would  be  placed 
upon  that  letter  of  General  Castellanos,  with  its  direction 
to  "see  me,"  in  any  country  where  a  Latin  race  does  not 
rule.  What  the  construction  must  be  in  countries  where 
officials  are  expected  to  steal  as  a  matter  of  course,  can 
also  be  conjectured.  The  original,  which  would  seem  to 
be  of  vital  interest  to  the  reputation  of  General  Cas- 
tellanos, can  be  produced  at  any  time,  and  it  is  only  fair 
to  remark  that  the  general  opinion  in  Havana  regarding 
Castellanos  seems  to  be  that  he  was  the  most  "reason- 
ably honest  "  of  all  the  captain-generals  they  had  had  in 
a  long  time. 

It  was  in  such  an  atmosphere  and  under  such  con- 
ditions that  Colonel  Bliss  took  hold  of  his  work.  He 
kept  the  old  force  at  work  so  far  as  possible.  He  opened 
a  new  bureau  of  audit  at  once.  With  the  advice  of  Mr. 
Donaldson  he  established  an  entry  division,  a  liquidating 
division,  an  exporting  division,  and  several  minor  divi- 
sions and  departments,  one  of  which  was  a  bureau  of  sta- 
tistics. He  placed  the  bookkeepers  in  a  different  room 
from  the  cashiers;  he  set  up  gates  in  the  place  so  that 
the  clerical  force  should  not  come  in  contact  with  the 
merchants  and  their  agents,  who  overran  the  place.  He 
opened  the  doors  of  his  own  office,  so  as  to  be  accessible 
to  every  man  who  could  have  any  business  with  him. 
He  set  up  checks  and  balances  to  prevent  stealing.  He 
started  in  to  collect  the  duties  in  the  very  first  case  that 
came  up.  He  worked  from  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
until  twelve  o'clock  at  night.  He  and  Mr.  Donaldson 
saw  every  merchant  who  came  to  them.     With  their  own 

144 


HONEST   CUSTOMS    SERVICE    IN    CUBA 

hands,  more  than  once,  they  went  over  the  routine  of 
passing  a  consignment  of  goods  through  the  custom- 
house. They  drilled  the  clerks — and  it  was  such  a  task  ! 
— and  they  saw  that  the  money  received  was  counted 


WALTER    A.    DONALDSON, 
DEPUTY-COLLECTOR    OF    CUSTOMS 


every  night  and  locked  up  with  half  a  dozen  big  keys  in 
an  antiquated  safe,  but  with  a  squad  of  soldiers  near  by 
to  guard  it  night  and  day. 

The  first  rule,  one  might  say,  that  Colonel  Bliss  and 
Mr.  Donaldson  set  up,  was  that  no  man  should  be  dis- 
charged  without   cause,  and   no   man   should  be   hired 
without  merit  and  especial  fitness  for  the  work.     It  was 
k  145 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

real  civil  service  reform,  and  there  was  the  right  kind  of 
"  starch  "  in  it.  This  was  shown  by  probably  the  most 
interesting  episode  that  took  place  under  the  new  man- 
agement within  the  first  six  weeks.  An  official  in  the 
cashier's  department  came  to  Colonel  Bliss  one  day  in  a 
state  of  great  perturbation,  and  wanted  to  know  if  it  was 
true  that  he  was  to  lose  his  place,  or  if  any  man  who  had 
a  "pull"  could  bring  about  his  discharge.  He  protested 
that  he  was  doing  his  full  duty,  and  was  serving  the 
United  States  honestly.  Colonel  Bliss  told  the  man  that 
he  was  secure  in  his  place  so  long  as  he  was  efficient  and 
honest.  Then  the  colonel  asked  why  the  man,  whose 
name  I  do  not  use,  by  request,  had  come  to  him.  The 
employe  handed  the  colonel  a  letter  without  signature, 
which  he  said  came  from  the  editor  of  a  small  afternoon 
newspaper,  and  of  which  this  is  a  translation  : 

O'Reilly,  38,  February  1,  1899. 
Dear  Friend,— I  have  been  waiting  for  you  in  my  house,  as 
you  suggested,  but  I  have  not  seen  you.  They  are  making  the 
appointments  at  this  moment.  Though  you  are  well  supplied 
with  money,  you  would  not  be  pleased  to  lose  your  job.  Let  it 
be  known  that  neither  would  I.  I  expect  you  this  evening  up  to 
five  o'clock.  

Colonel  Bliss  questioned  his  employe  closely.  The  lat- 
ter was  sure  that  a  man  named  Robert,  the  editor  in 
question,  had  written  the  letter.  It  was  a  case  of  black- 
mail, he  said,  and  he  would  not  submit.  Colonel  Bliss 
was  puzzled.  He  decided  to  send  for  Mr.  Robert.  A 
polite  note  from  the  collector  himself  soon  hurried  Mr. 
Robert  jauntily  to  the  doors  of  the  Custom-house.     It 

146 


HONEST   CUSTOMS    SERVICE    IN    CUBA 

was  evident  that  he  thought  he  was  going  to  "  do  busi- 
ness "  with  the  collector  himself.  Truly  the  Americans 
were  not  so  bad,  after  all.  The  glitter  in  the  eye  of 
Colonel  Bliss  alarmed  him  a  little,  and  so  when  Colonel 
Bliss  asked  him  if  he  wrote  the  letter  in  question,  he  an- 
swered no,  as  a  matter  of  course.  He  had  to  feel  his 
way  as  to  why  the  collector  had  sent  for  him.  He  had 
not  the  faintest  idea  that  he  had  done  anything  worthy 
of  censure.  Colonel  Bliss  asked  him  if  he  was  sure  that 
he  had  not  written  the  letter,  and  followed  this  up  by 
what  experts,  and  especially  army  experts,  would  call 
"  chucking  a  bluff,"  and  by  pretending  that  he  had  the 
man  cornered  ;  and  Mr.  Robert  surrendered.  "  Yes,  I 
wrote  that  letter,"  he  said,  defiantly.  He  then  said  that 
the  employe  had  been  paying  him  tribute  for  years,  and 
he  had  a  right  to  a  share  of  the  man's  salary.  Colonel 
Bliss  sat  there  amazed.  Robert  did  not  seem  to  have 
the  vaguest  idea  that  he  had  done  wrong.  Colonel  Bliss 
could  stand  it  no  longer.  The  man  wanted  to  explain 
further. 

"  Not  another  word !"  thundered  Colonel  Bliss,  and 
then  he  called  in  witnesses  and  denounced  the  man  ;  told 
him  that  he  would  prosecute  him  or  punish  him  in  some 
form ;  pictured  the  contempt  which  Americans  have  for 
a  blackmailer;  summoned  many  of  the  employes,  and 
proclaimed  then  and  there  that  no  man  could  cause  their 
dismissal  without  just  reason,  and  that  they  were  to  be 
accountable  to  no  person  for  their  places  except  himself. 
Then  he  dismissed  Robert  in  scorn. 

To  his  still  greater  amazement.  Colonel  Bliss  received 
this  letter  from  Robert  half  an  hour  later  : 

1 47 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

O'Reilly,  38,  February  1,  1899. 

Sir, — I  pray  you  not  to  blame  me  for  my  note ;  it  was  not 
anonymous,  because  it  was  united  with  my  card,  and  because  that 
gentleman  well  knows  that  it  belonged  to  me.  This  gentleman 
is  indebted  to  me  for  some  money,  and  if  you  want  to  get  a  good 
information  in  this  matter,  I  have  no  objection  to  be  submitted 
before  him  to  a  cross-examination. 

Some  years  ago  I  used  to  publish  all  the  proceedings  of  the 
cash,  and  Mr. came  to  me  imploring  my  silence.  He  prom- 
ised spontaneously  to  pay  twelve  subscriptions  every  month  for 
the  time  he  could  keep  his  employment,  and  that  is  the  amount 
I  claim  from  him  ;  because  he  is  indebted  to  me  for  three  or  four 
months.  Passing  to  any  other  question,  it  would  be  wise,  when 
you  make  your  complaint  against  me  to  General  Brooke,  to  tell 
him  that  there  is  no  Cuban  in  Cuba  who  may  claim  more  distinc- 
tion with  respect  to  the  United  States,  as  I  can  prove  by  all  my 
publications  since  the  year  1884 — the  last  one  I  enclose  to  you. 
Yours  respectfully, 

Estaban  A.  Robert. 

The  next  day  Colonel  Bliss  was  surprised  again  by 
finding  two  letters  enclosed  in  a  copy  of  Robert's  news- 
paper, La  Tarde,  and  lying  on  his  desk.  One  letter  was 
to  the  collector,  and  said  : 

Colonel  Bliss, — I  take  the  liberty  to  enclose  an  open  letter 

to  Mr. for  your  perusal. 

I  remain,  Yours  respectfully, 

Estaban  A.  Robert. 

The   other  letter  read  : 

Dear  Friend  Eduardo, — What  a  devil  of  idea  you  had  to 
show  to  Mr.  Bliss  my  last  letter!  The  consequence  of  it  all  is 
that  I  have  had  to  tell  him  everything,  because  I  am  not  a  man 

148 


HONEST    CUSTOMS    SERVICE    IN    CUBA 

to  lie.  Mr.  Bliss  knows  already  that  you  offered  me  spontaneously 
twelve  subscriptions.  It  is  more  than  seven  years  ago,  and  pay- 
ment had  been  declined. 

Remember,  if  you  are  inclined  to  do  it,  that  on  San  Ignacio 
Street  you  offered  to  pay  me  the  amount  of  twelve  subscriptions 
should  I  not  write  a  word  about  the  cash,  because  there  was  in- 
jury for  you  making  those  matters  public.  It  was  for  you  not  to 
have  uttered  a  word  to  anybody,  because  it  is  understood  that 
there  may  be  underneath  this  affair  something  deserving  to  be 
silenced.  You  ought  to  have  in  your  pocket  at  least  200  letters 
in  the  same  terms,  and  you  only  produced  my  last  one,  because 
it  was  not  safe  for  you  in  other  days  to  do  the  same  thing, 
because  there  was  danger  impending. 

Est  a  ban  A.  Robert. 

The  case  of  Mr.  Robert  was  attended  to,  and  it  had  its 
effect,  as  did  another  incident  that  occurred  about  the 
same  time.  An  agent  of  one  of  the  largest  importing- 
houses  in  the  city  forced  himself  through  the  gate  and 
undertook  to  take  charge  of  affairs  at  a  certain  clerk's 
desk,  just  as  the  agent  had  done  frequently  before.  He 
represented  a  merchant  who  had  had  a  big  "  pull."  The 
clerk  remonstrated,  and  sharp  words  followed.  There 
was  an  exchange  of  blows,  and  soon  Colonel  Bliss  had 
a  complaint  from  the  merchant  that  his  agent  had  been 
assaulted  grievously  in  the  Custom-house  by  a  certain 
clerk.  Colonel  Bliss  investigated  it,  and  found  that  the 
agent  had  been  very  offensive  in  manner,  had  broken 
the  new  rules  wilfully,  and  had  actually  struck  the  first 
blow.  He  called  in  the  clerk,  commended  him  before 
others,  and  gave  notice  publicly  that  he  would  stand  by 
his  employes  constantly.    It  was  a  matter  of  amazement 

149 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

to  Colonel  Bliss  that  in  view  of  past  associations  the 
clerk  had  the  courage  to  strike  the  agent  at  all.  The 
merchant  was  notified  that  that  agent  could  no  longer 
do  business  for  him  in  the  Custom-house. 

The  management  of  the  new  system  did  not  devolve 
so  much  upon   the  "avistas,"  or  appraisers,  as  in  the 


HAVANA — CUSTOM-HOUSE   WHARVES   AND    LANDING-STAGE 
Photograph  by  E.  C.  Rost 


Spanish  regime,  but  still  it  was  concerning  them  that 
the  most  critical  situation  in  the  control  by  Americans 
occurred.  In  the  old  days  the  "vistas,"  as  they  were 
called,  were  what  in  slang  parlance  would  be  termed 
"  the  whole  thing."  They  received  very  small  salaries  ; 
they  made  an  enormous  amount  of  money.  A  merchant 
importing  flour  went  down  to  the  docks,  "saw "a  certain 
vista,  had  the  cargo  passed  as  cement,  paid  the  duty  on 

150 


HONEST    CUSTOMS    SERVICE    IN    CUBA 

the  spot,  got  an  order  for  the  release  of  his  flour,  and  the 
vista  "saw"  his  superior  officers,  and  the  share  in  the 
bribe  that  the  merchant  had  paid  for  his  "smuggling" 
did  not  stop  until  some  of  the  money  finally  reached 
Spain.  There  were  many  advantages  in  this  kind  of  an 
arrangement,  not  the  least  of  which  was  that  a  merchant 
got  his  goods  promptly. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  vistas  were  in  revolt.  Col- 
lector Bliss  and  Mr.  Donaldson  found  a  strike  of  vistas 
on  their  hands  one  morning  down  on  the  Custom-house 
landing.  Mr.  Donaldson  strolled  down  there,  apparently 
unconcerned,  asked  what  the  trouble  was,  peremptorily 
discharged  some  of  the  ringleaders,  and  called  for  the 
resignations  of  several  others,  and  the  strike  was  over  in 
less  than  ten  minutes. 

Not  so  easy  to  manage,  however,  was  the  next  strike, 
that  of  the  merchants.  It  is  probable  that  they  were  in- 
spired as  to  their  action  by  some  of  the  vistas  whose 
sources  of  revenue  had  been  curtailed.  Word  reached 
Colonel  Bliss  and  Mr.  Donaldson  one  morning  that  the 
merchants  were  refusing  to  apply  for  their  goods,  and 
would  not  do  so  until  there  was  a  return  to  the  old  sys- 
tem of  doing  business  directly  with  the  vistas.  It  was 
inconvenient,  the  merchants  said,  to  take  a  paper  and  go 
from  one  clerk  to  another,  at  least  five,  and  get  various 
signatures  before  one  could  get  a  release  of  his  goods. 
The  old  way  was  much  the  better.  Probably  then  and 
there  occurred  the  most  critical  day  of  Colonel  Bliss's 
regime.  He  knew  it,  and  Mr.  Donaldson  knew  it.  Colo- 
nel Bliss,  with  confidence  in  Mr.  Donaldson's  ability  to 
deal  with  such  a  crisis,  told  him  to  see  what  he  could  do 

151 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

in  the  matter.  The  custom  -  house  wharf  could  only 
hold  so  much  freight ;  there  was  no  system  of  bonded 
warehouses  ;  the  commerce  of  the  port  could  not  be 
tied  up. 

Colonel  Bliss  could  have  taken  drastic  measures.  He 
could  have  hired  buildings,  locked  the  importations  up, 
and  told  the  merchants  that  they  could  get  their  goods 
at  his  convenience.  It  would  have  been  a  wholesome 
lesson,  but  it  would  have  left  sores.  He  told  Mr.  Don- 
aldson to  use  tact,  and  the  latter  did  use  it.  He  strolled 
down  upon  the  dock  smoking  a  cigar.  "  Going  to  be  a 
fiesta  to-day?"  he  inquired,  as  he  noted  with  apparent 
surprise  that  no  work  was  going  on,  and  that  the  mer- 
chants were  standing  around  doing  nothing.  No  fiesta? 
What  was  the  trouble  ?  Oh  yes,  he  could  understand. 
Probably  some  little  hitch  owing  to  lack  of  familiarity 
with  the  way  of  doing  business.  He  asked  for  the  entry 
blank  of  a  merchant,  offered  to  show  him  how  to  get  his 
goods  out,  started  half  a  dozen  other  men  on  the  road  in 
the  same  way,  asked  that  a  committee  of  half  a  dozen 
merchants  be  appointed  to  examine  into  the  details  of 
the  new  system  with  its  checks  and  balances,  and  re- 
ceived the  promise  that  that  afternoon  they  would  go 
into  details  with  him  ;  got  this  man  and  that  man  stirred 
up,  and  soon  had  all  the  employes  engaged  in  work,  and 
that  strike  was  over,  to  the  amazement  of  the  strikers. 
That  afternoon  Mr.  Donaldson  took  several  entries  and 
went  through  them  with  a  committee,  and  then  he  asked 
them  to  make  suggestions.  Wherever  it  was  possible  to 
modify  little  things,  such  as  placing  more  clerks  in  the 
cashier's   department,   it   was    done,  and   a   permanent 

152 


AMERICAN    CONSULATE 


HONEST    CUSTOMS    SERVICE    IN    CUBA 

understanding  was  reached  that  at  a  certain  hour  each 
day  Mr.  Donaldson  would  show  the  workings  of  the  Cus- 
tom-house to  all  who  had  a  right  to  inspect  them. 

But  there  was  to  be  still  more  trouble  with  the  mer- 
chants. They  complained  of  needless  delay  in  some 
schedules,  and  they  thought  that  in  certain  lines  they 
should  be  permitted  to  do  business  with  the  appraiser, 
liquidate  the  duties  then  and  there,  and  get  their  goods 
at  once.  There  was  too  much  running  around  to  this 
and  that  clerk.  Colonel  Bliss  invited  the  representative 
merchants  of  the  city  to  meet  Mr.  Donaldson  in  con- 
ference. I  had  the  pleasure  of  attending  the  meeting. 
There  were  about  twenty-five  merchants  present,  some 
of  whom  were  millionaires.  Mr.  Donaldson  chose  to 
speak  in  English  and  have  his  words  translated.  He 
told  them  that  the  first  idea  of  the  new  management, 
after  protecting  itself  by  modern  business  methods,  was 
to  help  the  merchants  in  their  business,  to  regard  them 
as  customers  of  the  custom  -  house.  Recognizing  this 
fact,  Colonel  Bliss  had  already  established  an  order  that 
ninety  per  cent,  of  any  cargo  could  be  taken  away  at 
once  upon  arrival,  the  duties  to  be  adjudicated  later. 
Mr.  Donaldson  was  willing  to  answer  any  question,  to 
explain  the  reason  for  any  step,  and  would  be  glad  to 
consider  suggestions  of  any  kind. 

But  before  this  was  done,  he  wanted  to  say  that  there 
were  three  or  four  vacancies  among  the  vistas.  Would 
the  merchants  be  kind  enough  to  recommend  good  men 
for  the  places,  so  that  Colonel  Bliss  could  appoint  them  ? 
Then  Mr.  Donaldson  started  his  callers  off  for  a  conversa- 
tional gallop.     They  talked  and  gesticulated,  and  finally, 

i55 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

after  they  had  wandered  over  the  entire  range  of  custom- 
house business,  Mr.  Donaldson  said  : 

"  As  I  understand  it,  gentlemen,  you  would  like  to  re- 
turn to  the  system  of  liquidating  your  entries  right  be- 
side the  appraisers  down-stairs?" 

They  protested  that  they  were  satisfied  with  the  new 
system  in  the  main,  but  they  thought  that  in  certain 
schedules — hardware  was  one — they  could  make  better 
time  by  the  former  system. 

Mr.  Donaldson  repeated  their  remarks,  and  asked  if  he 
understood  them  correctly.  Then  he  paused,  and,  with 
great  deliberation,  said,  in  a  quiet  but  most  serious 
tone  : 

"  Gentlemen,  do  I  understand  that  you  want  to  return 
to  the  old  system  of  fines  as  well  ?" 

A  shriek  of  concerted  and  long-sustained  noes  went  up 
from  that  room  that  could  have  been  heard  half  -  way 
across  the  harbor.  Mr.  Donaldson  had  them  on  the  run. 
He  followed  up  his  advantage  by  asking  : 

"  Do  I  understand  that  most  of  you  would  prefer  to  re- 
turn to  the  old  "  (marked  emphasis  on  the  word,  with  a 
significant  look) "  system  of  doing  business  in  the  Custom- 
house ?" 

Another  shriek  went  up.  "Americano  !  Americano  I 
Americano  !"  was  the  cry.     Donaldson  had  won. 

One  of  the  most  puzzling  problems  with  which  Colonel 
Bliss  had  to  deal  was  the  flag  for  Cubans  engaged  in 
their  own  coastwise  trade.  The  flag  of  the  United  States 
could  not  be  used  on  such  vessels,  and  neither  could  the 
Cuban  flag.  The  Spanish  flag  was  banished  forever. 
To  meet  the  situation  the  President  ordered  that  a  blue 

156 


HONEST    CUSTOMS    SERVICE    IN    CUBA 

flag  with  a  white  jack  should  be  used  for  such  vessels. 
Owners  were  required  to  take  an  oath  renouncing  al- 
legiance to  all  former  governments.  Some  of  the  skip- 
pers of  the  vessels  thought  they  had  a  right  to  fly  the 
United  States  flag.  It  took  a  long  time  to  convince  them 
that  the  only  flag  they  could  fly  would  be  that  blue  field 
with  a  white  patch  on  one  corner,  and  that  the  forces  of 
the  United  States  would  be  used,  if  necessary,  to  protect 
them  from  being  considered  pirates  or  as  belonging  to  a 
fictitious  nation.  That  flag  is  the  only  flag  of  Cuban 
sovereignty  or  semi  -  sovereignty  which  the  United 
States,  up  to  this  writing,  has  recognized,  and,  so  far  as 
this  country  is  concerned  officially,  that  is  the  present 
Cuban  flag.  It  was  impossible  to  find  all  the  owners  of 
these  small  vessels  so  that  they  might  renounce  their 
former  allegiance,  and  Colonel  Bliss,  in  order  not  to  im- 
pair commerce,  had  recourse  to  the  issue  of  temporary 
permits  for  each  voyage.  The  other  collectors  on  the 
island  soon  got  to  understand  the  new  order  of  affairs, 
and  Colonel  Bliss  had  rounded  another  sharp  corner. 

This  matter  of  coastwise  commerce  brought  another 
question,  that  of  an  "  open  door."  Colonel  Bliss  and  Mr. 
Donaldson,  as  well  as  Mr.  Porter,  saw  that  if  Cuba  would 
be  rehabilitated  the  ports  must  be  open  to  ships  of  all 
nations.  There  were  not  enough  ships  under  the  Amer- 
ican flag  to  deal  with  its  commerce  as  if  the  island  were 
our  own  possession.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  open-door 
policy,  the  mines  at  Santiago  could  not  have  started  up, 
and  commerce  at  most  of  the  ports  of  the  island  would 
have  stood  still.  In  a  report,  as  far  back  as  December 
i,  1898,  to  General  Wood  at  Santiago,  Mr.Donaldson  said : 

i57 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  policy  of  non-discrimination  in 
intercourse  extended  to  the  vessels  of  all  nations,  in  the  matter 
of  entering  and  clearing  at  this  port,  as  well  as  at  the  various 
other  ports  within  this  province,  has  greatly  facilitated  the  re- 
establishment  of  commercial  relations. 

The  same  policy  has  been  extended  since  then  to  all 
ports,  and  the  "  open  door  "  has  been  of  immense  value 
in  the  restoration  of  the  island.     It  is  unnecessary  to. 
point  out  the  lesson  involved. 

The  story  of  the  first  sixty  days  in  the  collection  of 
customs  duties  by  the  United  States  under  Colonel  Bliss 
could  be  extended  at  great  length.  The  incident  of  the 
payment  of  the  first  refund  would  make  a  long  story 
of  itself.  Word  was  passed  that  it  was  really  going  to 
happen.  The  merchant  interested,  and  nearly  all  of  his 
employes,  gathered  to  receive  the  money.  The  report 
of  what  was  going  on  spread,  and  soon  the  corridors  of 
the  Custom-house  were  jammed  to  see  money  that  was 
paid  into  a  custom-house  through  a  wrong  valuation 
actually  paid  back.  It  was  received  with  cheers,  and  the 
sensation  lasted  fully  a  week,  and  existed  two  months 
later,  to  some  extent.  Oh,  what  queer  people  those 
American  officials  were,  to  be  honest  like  that  ! 

Then  there  was  the  matter  of  readjustment  of  salaries 
and  the  difficulty  of  making  out  a  pay-roll.  ,  The  em- 
ployes did  not  use  fixed  names.  One  day  a  man  would 
use  his  father's  name,  and  the  next  day  his  mother's. 
Gradually  Colonel  Bliss  got  their  signatures,  and  as  long 
as  they  remained  in  the  Custom-house  the  names  they 
signed  were  to  be  their  official  names.  That  the  read- 
justment of  salaries  was  imperative  may  be  judged  from 

158 


HONEST    CUSTOMS    SERVICE    IN   CUBA 

the  fact  that  the  head  of  one  division  received  $2000  a 
year,  while  the  head  of  another,  equally  important,  re- 
ceived only  $600.  Then  there  was  the  matter  of  renovat- 
ing the  building,  cleaning  the  sewer  that  ran  under  the 
building  directly  under  the   collector's  office,  and  that 


£*.'■*  '•***  ' 


THE    CUSTOMHOUSE 

occasionally  drove  him  from  his  work.  This,  with  the 
daily  routine  of  signing  permits,  reports,  listening  to 
complaints  and  suggestions,  settling  disputes  as  to  valu- 
ations, supervising  the  business  of  other  ports,  planning 
for  bonded  warehouses,  drilling  the  force  of  clerks,  oc- 
casionally descending  upon  the  vistas  to  see  if  their  ap- 
praisement had  been  honest,  locking  up  the  cash  and 
transferring  it  to  the  officer  designated  by  the  authori- 
ties— all  these  and  a  score  of  other  things  kept  Colonel 
Bliss  and  Mr.  Donaldson  busy. 

i59 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

So  far  as  the  new  tariff  was  concerned,  its  operation 
had  had  little  effect  upon  prices  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 
Large  stocks  had  been  imported  under  the  old  corrupt 
system,  just  before  the  Spaniards  left.  The  competitive 
spirit  as  it  is  known  in  the  United  States  does  not  obtain 
in  business  in  Cuba  to  a  great  extent.  Importations 
from  Spain  had  not  lessened  materially,  nor  had  those 
from  this  country  increased  to  a  marked  extent.  The 
people  of  Cuba  are  used  to  Spanish  goods  put  up  in 
Spanish  ways,  and  it  will  take  a  long  time  for  them  to 
get  used  to  new  preparations.  In  time  lower  prices  are 
bound  to  come  and  American  goods  will  gradually  dis- 
place certain  importations  from  Spain,  purchased  simply 
because  they  are  Spanish  preparations.  The  official  in 
Washington  most  directly  concerned  with  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  Cuban  tariff  declared  to  me  that  there  was 
no  thought  of  exploiting  the  protection  system.  The 
plan  was  to  secure  about  $15,000,000  in  revenue,  and  to 
reduce  the  Spanish  rates  fully  60  per  cent.  In  actual 
operation  the  reduction  ranged  from  30  to  60  per  cent. 

One  great  lesson  to  be  learned  from  American  ad- 
ministration of  customs  in  Cuba  is  that  of  integrity  in 
business  affairs  and  the  value  of  honesty  in  public  office. 
This  administration  also  furnished  an  object-lesson  in 
the  sacredness  of  public  trusts.  The  Spanish  officials 
simply  could  not  understand  why  Colonel  Bliss  kept  a 
force  of  men  on  duty  until  after  eight  o'clock  one  night 
to  rectify  a  discrepancy  of  six  cents.  That  was  some 
more  American  foolishness. 

Another  great  lesson — and  perhaps  the  most  impor- 
tant— related  to  the  civil  service  reform  side  of  the  Amer- 

t6o 


HONEST    CUSTOMS    SERVICE    IN    CUBA 

ican  management.  It  would  simply  have  been  impos- 
sible to  conduct  business  had  the  old  idea  of  loot  in 
public  place  by  spoils  politicians  been  put  in  force  in 
Havana.  Doubtless  many  Cubans,  who  had  their  eyes 
on  the  Custom-house  as  a  field  for  loot,  as  it  existed  under 
the  Spanish  regime,  were  disappointed  at  the  new  state 
of  affairs.  It  was  well  for  this  country  that  it  had  this 
necessary  reform  in  actual  existence  when  it  went  into 
what  might  be  called  the  colonial  experiment.  Mr. 
Donaldson  pointed  out  to  me  that  England  had  to  learn 
the  value  of  such  a  system  after  she  began  her  colonial 
work,  and  at  fearful  cost. 

When  the  American  military  occupation  of  Cuba  ends, 
probably  some  attention  will  be  called  to  the  faithful 
service  of  civilians  during  the  trials  of  this  reconstruc- 
tion period.  More  than  one  civilian  from  the  States 
died  heroically  in  the  public  service  in  Cuba,  Puerto 
Rico,  and  the  Philippines,  as  Mr.  Donaldson  pointed  out 
in  a  speech  at  a  dinner  in  Havana,  and  there  was  no  pen- 
sion, no  salute  at  the  grave  ;  and  for  those  who  continued 
to  face  danger  there  was  no  advancement  in  rank  and 
no  increased  pay  from  time  to  time.  Truly  there  was  a 
civilian  side  to  the  military  occupation  of  the  island  of 
Cuba. 

Meanwhile  Havana  rubbed  her  eyes  and  marvelled  at 
the  sight  of  honesty  in  the  Custom-house.  That  was 
really  the  only  complaint  to  be  made  against  the  new 
management  and  against  the  hard  -  worked,  patient, 
straightforward  army  officer  that  supervised  it. 


CHAPTER   VII 

Cuba's  new  postal  service 

THE  condition  of  the  postal  system  of  a  country  is 
always  an  indication  of  the  standing  of  that  coun- 
try, not  only  in  commerce,  but  in  civilization. 
The  most  highly  advanced  countries  have  the  most  com- 
plete postal  systems.  The  method  of  handling  the  mails 
might  be  called  the  barometer  of  progress  in  any  coun- 
try. Up  to  the  time  of  the  American  occupation  of  Cuba 
there  was  a  very  low  barometer  in  this  respect,  and  it 
told  its  own  story  of  the  meaning  of  Spanish  rule.  Like 
the  other  branches  of  government  service,  the  Cuban 
mail  service  was  honeycombed  with  corruption.  It. 
seemed  to  retrogade,  rather  than  to  advance.  American 
occupation  changed  all  that,  and  it  was  done  in  less  than 
sixty  days.  Within  that  time  the  foundation  was  laid 
for  a  postal  system  such  as  never  could  have  been 
evolved  under  Spanish  rule,  and  such  as  might  not  have 
been  established  by  the  Cubans  themselves  within  per- 
haps a  century.  The  new  system  was  thoroughly  mod- 
ern, and  Cuba  will  always  feel  the  great  benefit  of  Ameri- 
can progress  in  this  most  important  phase  of  modern  life. 
The  man  who  was  sent  to  Cuba  to  establish  this  postal 
system  was  Estes  G.  Rathbone,  formerly  Fourth  Assist- 

162 


CUBA'S    NEW    POSTAL    SERVICE 

ant  Postmaster  -  General  under  the  administration  of 
Benjamin  Harrison.  His  home  is  in  Hamilton,  Ohio, 
where  he  has  been  known  as  a  successful  banker  and 
man  of  affairs.  He  had  served  the  Federal  govern- 
ment  repeatedly,  having   been   a   special   agent  of  the 


MAJOR    E.    G.   RATHBONE, 
DIRECTOR    OF   POSTS 


Treasury  Department  from  1874  to  1882.  For  two  years 
after  that  he  was  the  chief  of  the  special  examiner's  de- 
partment of  the  Pension  Bureau,  having  under  him  a 
force  of  five  hundred  and  thirty-one  men.  In  1889  he 
became  chief  of  the  post-office  inspectors,  and  two  years 
later  was  made  Fourth  Assistant  Postmaster  -  General, 

163 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

where  he  had  charge  of  the  appointment  of  certain  post- 
masters, of  the  bond  and  commission  division  of  the  de- 
partment, as  well  as  of  the  inspectors.  He  became  thor- 
oughly expert  in  postal  matters.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
had  served  his  adopted  State  of  Ohio  in  the  State  Senate, 
and  consequently  was  well  equipped  in  matters  pertain- 
ing to  public  life. 

Mr.  Rathbone  was  in  business  at  home  on  December 
21,  1898,  when  he  was  appointed  Director  of  Posts  of 
Cuba.  He  really  became  Postmaster-General  of  Cuba, 
and  he  was  sent  to  the  island  to  reorganize  and  assume 
control  of  the  postal  service.  The  elements  of  merit  and 
fitness  were  exemplified  in  his  appointment.  Another 
evidence  of  wisdom  relating  to  his  appointment  was  the 
fact  that  the  officials  at  Washington  gave  him  unlim- 
ited authority,  and  in  no  way  hampered  him  with  orders 
or  unwise  suggestions.  He  was  put  in  sole  control,  and 
was  left  to  work  out  the  problem  confronting  him  in  his 
own  way.  Night  after  night  he  worked,  until  he  was 
fagged  out,  and  for  nearly  thirty  days  he  was  at  his  office 
in  the  morning  so  early  that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to 
strike  a  match  to  find  the  key-hole.  Even  the  zealous 
army  officers,  with  the  prospect  of  promotion,  advanced 
pay,  honorable  mention,  and  retirement  on  a  reasonable 
pension,  could  not  show  a  greater  devotion  to  duty  than 
this. 

Mr.  Rathbone  took  charge  of  the  Cuban  postal  service 
at  noon  on  January  1,  1899.  He  brought  with  him  to 
Havana  only  three  men  —  a  private  secretary  and  two 
men  as  clerks  or  assistants,  who  had  never  been  inside 
a  post-office  except  to  get  their  mail,  and  who  had  been 

164 


CUBA'S    NEW    POSTAL    SERVICE 

designated  at  Washington  to  help  Mr.  Rathbone.  How 
they  were  appointed  Mr.  Rathbone  did  not  tell  me,  nor 
did  he  have  any  fault  to  find,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  with 
their  efficiency  after  they  had  been  broken  in  to  their 
work.  He  also  brought  with  him  a  supply  of  United 
States  stamps,  surcharged  for  the  needs  of  Cuba,  and  a 
lot  of  mail-bags  and  a  few  other  equipments.  Mr.  Rath- 
bone's  first  work  was  to  appoint  a  temporary  postmaster 
of  Havana,  whose  name  was  E.  R.  Juncosa,  an  old  em- 
ploye in  the  service  there,  and  then  he  began  to  look 
into  the  condition  of  affairs. 

Mr.  Rathbone  found  that  the  Spaniards  had  simply 
looted  the  postal  system,  as  they  had  practically  looted 
the  Custom-house  and  every  other  department  of  gov- 
ernment on  the  island.  They  did  not  leave  a  penny,  a 
stamp,  or  even  any  official  paper.  There  were  no  records 
of  any  value  that  would  serve  as  a  guide,  or  as  informa- 
tion to  their  system  of  doing  business.  Up  to  January  ist 
the  postal  and  the  telegraph  system  of  the  island  had 
been  under  the  same  management.  They  were  separated 
at  once,  and  the  signal  corps  of  the  army,  under  Colonel 
Dunwoody,  assumed  charge  of  the  telegraphs  of  the  isl- 
and. Mr.  Rathbone  notified  all  the  postmasters  he  could 
reach  by  telegraph  to  remain  at  their  posts,  and  he  guar- 
anteed that  their  salaries  would  be  paid.  This  was  joy- 
ful news  to  them,  for  they  had  not  received  any  salary 
from  the  Spanish  authorities  for  ten  months.  Most  of 
them  had  stuck  to  their  places  because  they  were  afraid 
to  leave  them,  and  also  in  the  hope  that  they  would  some 
day  get  part  of  their  back  salaries.  Most  of  them  re- 
mained in  office  at  Director  Rathbone's  request. 

165 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

The  next  thing  that  the  director  did  was  to  place  his 
new  stamps  on  sale  in  Havana.  Then  he  gave  notice 
that  letters  and  other  mail-matter  could  be  sent  through 
the  island  without  postage-stamps  for  fifteen  days,  the 
postage  to  be  collected  from  the  persons  to  whom  the 
mail-matter  was  delivered.  During  those  fifteen  days 
the  director  scattered  the  new  stamps  all  over  the  island. 
There  had  been  an  American  post  -  office  at  Santiago 
since  the  surrender,  and  that  simplified  the  situation  in  a 
large  city  remote  from  Havana.  Messages  were  sent  to 
the  old  postmasters,  strengthening  their  resolves  to  re- 
main in  office,  and  when  the  fifteen  days  had  expired  the 
island  was  practically  supplied  with  stamps.  It  required 
a  tremendous  lot  of  work  to  bring  this  about.  The  same 
rates  of  postage  as  existed  before  the  Spaniards  evac- 
uated the  island  were  continued.  So  far  as  the  people 
were  concerned,  the  only  change  was  a  new  kind  of 
stamps. 

The  old  system  of  routine  was  kept  up  ;  the  clerks 
were  retained,  and  no  change  in  method  was  made  for 
some  time.  Director  Rathbone  had  to  study  out  the 
situation.  He  found  that  there  had  been  some  mysteri- 
ous way  of  doing  business  in  the  post-office  department. 
The  Spaniards  were  reluctant  to  give  details.  Very  few 
of  them  probably  understood  the  system  in  all  its  details. 
In  Mr.  Rathbone's  own  language,  "  They  were  very  pe- 
culiar, to  say  the  least;  they  seemed  to  have  a  system  of 
covering  their  tracks  behind  them." 

Under  the  Spanish  system,  Mr.  Rathbone  found  that 
the  letter-carriers  received  their  pay  by  charging  from 
three  to  five  cents,  and  sometimes  more,  for  every  letter 

1 66 


CUBA'S    NEW    POSTAL    SERVICE 

they  delivered.  It  took  only  a  day  or  two  to  have  that 
system  abolished  in  Havana,  much  to  the  relief  of  the 
merchants.  The  carriers  were  put  on  salaries  equiva- 
lent to  that  which  they  were  supposed  to  earn  by  the  as- 
sessment method  they  were  permitted  to  use  under  the 
former  regime.  This  plan  of  collecting  from  the  persons 
to  whom  mail-matter  was  delivered  was  allowed  to  re- 
main, for  a  few  weeks,  in  other  places  than  Havana. 

The  carriers  under  the  Spanish  system  not  only 
charged  for  the  delivery  of  mail-matter,  but  they  rifled 
letters  freely,  and  made  money  by  stealing  stamps  from 
mail-matter  and  selling  them.  The  letters  and  other 
grades  of  mail  -  matter  would  be  forwarded  without 
stamps,  and  the  carriers  at  the  other  end  of  the  routes 
would  collect  not  only  for  delivery,  but  for  the  stamps 
that  had  been  stolen.  It  was  impossible  for  Mr.  Rath- 
bone  to  learn  whether  there  was  any  thorough  record 
kept  of  the  collections  for  unstamped  mail  -  matter. 
There  was  simply  an  unparalleled  looseness  in  the  con- 
duct of  post-office  business,  and  every  man  seemed  to 
have  license  to  steal  wherever  he  could.  Even  news- 
papers would  be  stolen  from  bundles  and  sold  for  what- 
ever could  be  got  for  them. 

Another  form  of  corruption  was  evident  when  the 
salary  lists  were  examined.  There  was  no  scale  of  sal- 
aries. In  one  city  a  postmaster  would  receive  twice  the 
salary  that  the  postmaster  of  a  larger  city  received. 
Salaries  seemed  to  be  arranged  on  the  "  pull  "  plan,  with 
the  possibilities  of  division  with  the  appointing  power 
afterward.  Places  that  under  the  liberal  payment  of  the 
United  States  would  rate  at  $1500  a  year  were  worth. 

169 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

frequently  as  much  as  $3000  a  year.  There  seemed  to 
be  no  bond  for  the  faithful  performance  of  duty,  and 
favoritism  and  corruption  were  evident  at  every  turn. 

Director  Rathbone  gathered  all  the  information  he 
could  about  every  phase  of  the  workings  of  the  depart- 
ment, and  finally  decided  that  the  former  system  needed 
complete  eradication.  It  was  useless,  in  his  judgment, 
to  try  to  make  over  the  system  that  was  then  in  vogue. 
He  decided  that  the  only  thing  to  do  was  to  set  up  a 
new  system  upon  the  most  approved  American  methods. 
He  wrote  to  the  department  authorities  in  Washington 
that  such  a  course  was  necessary,  and  it  is  noteworthy 
that  he  did  not  ask  for  permission  to  make  a  new  start. 
He  simply  said  that  he  intended  to  put  the  new  system 
in  operation  on  February  10th  if  there  was  no  objection. 
He  wrote  on  January  24th.  As  soon  as  his  letter  reached 
Washington,  and  had  been  placed  before  the  Postmaster- 
General,  a  cable  message  was  sent  to  him  approving  his 
decision,  and  on  the  date  set  Director  Rathbone  began 
the  Americanizing  of  the  postal  affairs  of  the  island. 

Ten  bureaus  were  established,  and  most  of  them  put 
in  operation.  They  were  the  bureaus  of  finance,  ap- 
pointments, postal  accounts,  transportation,  translation, 
postal  money-orders,  special  agents,  registry,  disburse- 
ments, advisory  counsel — all  organized  with  inexperi- 
enced men;  but  in  a  few  days  the  department  was  fully 
one  hundred  per  cent,  more  efficient  than  had  been  the 
Spanish  management  of  the  system.  The  first  definite 
step  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  postal  affairs  in  the 
island,  on  February  10th,  was  to  consolidate  the  "military 
postal  stations  "  with  the  post-offices  in  the  places  where 

170 


CUBA'S    NEW    POSTAL    SERVICE 

the  military  stations  were  situated.  The  military  sta- 
tions had  been  used  solely  for  the  United  States  troops. 
Wherever  consolidation  took  place  the  military  postal 
agent  was  made  postmaster,  and  the  Cuban  postmaster 
was  appointed  his  assistant,  if  he  was  willing  to  accept 
the  place.  The  object  of  this  move  was  to  man  the  chief 
offices  on  the  island  with  Americans,  with  the  object  of 
the  more  thoroughly  Americanizing  the  entire  system. 
It  was  the  first  important  step  in  that  work. 

There  was  a  registry  system  under  Spanish  rule,  but 
it  was  hopelessly  defective  and  complicated,  and  the 
American  system  of  checks  was  necessary  to  secure 
safety  for  registered  matter.  The  new  system  was  put 
in  force  in  the  Havana  office  on  February  19th,  and  ar- 
rangements were  soon  being  perfected  to  extend  it 
rapidly  throughout  the  island.  But  more  important 
than  the  registry  system  was  that  for  money  -  orders. 
The  Spaniards  had  had  no  such  system.  Some  such 
plan  was  necessary  for  the  transmission  of  money  in 
Cuba.  There  was  no  thorough  banking  system  in  the 
island,  and  the  use  of  checks  and  other  forms  of  paper 
for  the  payment  of  sums  due  was  unknown  there.  Fa- 
cilities for  the  exchange  and  transmission  of  money  to 
various  parts  of  the  island  were  practically  of  the  most 
meagre  kind. 

The  rule  in  Cuba  seemed  to  have  been  always  to  keep 
your  hands  on  your  own  money,  and  so  be  sure  that  it 
was  yours.  Spanish  merchants  in  Havana  were  always 
their  own  bankers.  They  kept  their  money  locked  up  in 
their  safes  rather  than  put  it  in  any  depository.  When 
they  did  lend  money,  the  custom  was  not  to  take  a 

171 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

mortgage  or  some  form  of  collateral,  but  to  buy  out- 
right the  stock  or  material  upon  which  they  loaned 
money,  with  the  written  understanding  that  the  man 
who  borrowed  the  money  could  have  his  property  back 
upon  the  payment  of  a  sum  of  money  large  enough  for 
principal  and  interest  combined.  It  was  necessary,  there- 
fore, for  the  development  of  business,  that  some  sort  of 
money-order  system  should  be  established,  and  Direc- 
tor Rathbone  decided  that  only  the  best — the  American 
system — should  be  put  in  operation.  On  February  17th 
he  opened  the  first  office  in  Havana,  and  made  it  the  ex- 
change office.  At  the  same  time  another  exchange  office 
was  opened  in  Tampa,  Florida,  and  thus  the  first  step 
was  taken  towards  adopting  this  important  system  of 
exchange  of  money.  It  met  with  instant  success.  The 
people  were  using  it  more  and  more  every  day,  and 
within  two  weeks  it  could  be  seen  that  the  system  would 
become  popular.  The  people  of  Cuba  were  distrustful 
of  banks  and  of  one  another,  but  there  seemed  to  be  con- 
fidence in  the  United  States,  and  Director  Rathbone 
almost  immediately  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a 
most  important  part  of  his  work  fairly  well  established 
and  in  good  working  order,  so  far  as  it  went.  It  was  his 
purpose  to  extend  the  system  as  fast  as  he  could. 

In  order  the  more  thoroughly  to  Americanize  the 
postal  system,  it  was  decided  to  fit  up  a  new  post-office 
in  the  city  of  Havana.  The  old  post  -  office  had  been 
used  for  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Like  all 
public  buildings  in  the  city,  its  sanitary  condition  was 
frightful.  In  Mr.  Rathbone's  opinion  its  condition  was 
the  "worst  of  any  building  in  Havana."     That  distinc- 

172 


CUBA'S    NEW    POSTAL    SERVICE 

tion,  however,  could  be  claimed  for  half  a  dozen  death- 
traps and  disease-spreaders.  The  man  who  would  under- 
take to  say  which  was  the  worst  building,  from  a  sanitary 
stand-point,  in  Havana,  when  the  Americans  took  con- 
trol of  affairs,  would  have  to  be  an  expert  in  germ  prop- 


THE   PRESENT    POST-OFFICE    BUILDING 


agation  such  as  the  world  never  saw.  His  sense  of  smell, 
in  a  comparative  sense,  would  be  ruined  in  half  an 
hour. 

The  old  post-office  was  condemned  by  the  sanitary  au- 
thorities, and  some  of  the  other  public  buildings  were 
not,  and  that  would  seem  to  bear  out  Mr.  Rathbone's  as- 
sertion of  foulness  approaching  distinction  for  his  office. 
The  Cuartel  de  la  Fuerza,  at  the  foot  of  O'Reilly  Street, 
was  selected  for  a  new  office  for  local  and  general  pur- 
poses in  the  city,  and  soon  it  was  being  transformed  into 

i75 


-  THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

an  American  post-office.  It  was  remodelled  and  fur- 
nished entirely  on  American  lines.  The  furniture  and 
fittings  were  strictly  American,  and  all  the  appliances 
were  such  as  are  used  in  post-offices  in  the  United  States. 
It  was  thought  that  this  would  be  most  efficacious  in  the 
eradication  of  nearly  everything  Spanish  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Havana  office  and  the  general  post-office 
system.  The  new  post-office  in  Havana  is  down  near 
the  water-front,  close  to  the  former  palace  of  the  captain- 
general,  and  not  in  the  centre  of  the  city.  It  is  on  the 
edge  of  the  business  part  of  the  city.  Sub-stations  and 
stamp  agencies  were  also  established  in  the  city,  and 
modern  letter-boxes  were  placed  in  the  other  cities  and 
large  towns  of  the  island.  It  seemed  as  hard  to  get  let- 
ters into  the  cumbersome  and  ungainly  mail-boxes  of  the 
Spaniards  as  it  was  to  get  them  out,  and  that  involved  a 
bit  of  skilful  manipulation  with  a  tremendous  key. 

In  dealing  with  the  postmasters  of  the  island,  Mr. 
Rathbone  found  that  it  was  practically  impossible  to  put 
them  under  bonds,  as  is  done  in  the  United  States,  and 
he  adopted  the  expedient  which  has  been  urged  for  adop- 
tion in  this  country — that  of  compelling  the  postmasters 
to  purchase  their  supplies  outright.  If  a  postmaster  has 
to  pay  for  his  stamps  in  advance,  it  has  been  argued  that 
he  will  be  all  the  more  careful  of  them.  Compelling  the 
Cuban  postmasters  to  pay  for  their  supplies  was  some- 
thing of  a  hardship,  but  in  some  way  they  managed  to 
raise  the  money,  and  after  a  time  the  system  was  in  fair- 
ly good  working  order. 

Mr.  Rathbone  made  an  arrangement  with  nearly  all 
the  railroads  to  carry  the  mails  free  of   charge  in  the 

176 


CUBA'S    NEW    POSTAL    SERVICE 

second  -  class  cars.  On  every  train  one  could  find  the 
postal  agent  in  these  cars.  In  some  of  the  cars  a  place 
had  been  enclosed  in  the  centre,  where  the  mail  agent 
did  his  work.  In  many  of  the  cars,  however,  he  turned 
over  a  seat  and  spread  his  letters  out  and  sorted  them 
as  they  came  in  to  him  at  the  stations.  It  was  a  crude 
way  of  doing  business,  but  the  mails  were  distributed 
correctly,  and  it  answered  the  purpose  very  well.  Under 
the  terms  or  concessions  by  which  the  railroads  were 
built,  they  were  compelled  to  carry  the  mails  free  of 
charge.  Two  of  the  railroads  in  the  island  were  claiming 
compensation  for  carrying  the  mails  under  the  new  con- 
dition of  affairs,  but  it  caused  no  delay  in  the  mails,  and 
the  matter  was  left  for  adjudication.  In  addition  to 
maintaining  a  railway  mail  service,  there  was  a  steam- 
ship service  surrounding  the  island.  Director  Rathbone 
looked  into  the  contracts  for  this  work  very  carefully. 
When  it  is  known  that  he  saved  $102,000  in  two  of  these 
contracts  alone,  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  where  some 
of  the  profits  of  being  connected  with  the  mail  service 
were  found  for  some  of  the  higher  Spanish  officials. 

In  addition  to  looking  out  for  the  routine  of  the  de- 
partment work,  Mr.  Rathbone  was  planning  constantly 
to  improve  the  service.  There  was  some  complaint,  as 
was  to  be  expected,  over  a  lack  of  prompt  delivery  of 
letters  here  and  there.  It  was  impossible  to  put  prompt- 
ness into  the  work  of  clerks  who  were  keyed  down  to  the 
inevitable  manana  of  the  island.  Gradually  the  Ameri- 
can idea  of  clearing  desks  and  tables  was  being  instilled 
into  the  office  help  all  over  the  island,  and  day  by  day 
the  complaints  of  delayed  mails  grew  less  frequent.     Mr. 

M  177 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Rathbone  had  very  little  to  complain  of  in  the  way  of 
insubordination.  The  post-office  workers  were  glad  to 
have  employment  where  they- were  sure  of  getting  their 
pay.     It  was  a  novelty  for  them. 

Mr.  Rathbone  found  that  to  put  his  system  in  opera- 
tion he  required  money  from  the  States,,  but  he  said  he 
had  not  had  to  call  on  Washington  for  much  money. 
He  was  using  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  system  to 
support  his  work.  He  said  that  he  had  had  full  support 
from  the  military  authorities,  and  that  his  relations  with 
all  the  generals  had  been  most  cordial.  There  was  no 
tendency,  he  declared,  by  the  military  authorities,  or  the 
authorities  in  the  Postal  Department  in  Washington,  to 
dictate  to  him  or  to  interfere  with  his  work  even  in  a  re- 
mote degree.  He  also  made  the  confident  prediction  that 
the  service  would  be  made  self-sustaining,  or  "practically 
so,"  within  the  first  year  of  its  existence.  The  cheap- 
ness of  transporting  the  mails,  and  the  saving  he  had 
effected  in  that  respect,  together  with  the  practice  of 
economy  and  ordinary  honesty  in  business  matters,  he 
thought,  would  accomplish  wonders  in  that  line. 

Even  if  the  department  were  not  self-sustaining,  any 
one  could  see  what  a  postal  system  such  as  that  which 
Mr.  Rathbone  started  would  do  for  the  island  of  Cuba. 
He  declared  to  me  that  his  one  thought  and  aim,  like 
those  of  the  military  authorities,  was  so  to  equip  the 
service  with  which  he  was  connected  that  when  the  time 
should  come  to  turn  it  over  to  the  Cubans  themselves,  it 
would  be  absolutely  modern  and  in  perfect  running  or- 
der. He  wanted,  he  said,  to  leave  the  work  in  such  shape 
that  he  could  be  proud  of  it,  and  the  Cubans  would  re- 

178 


CUBA'S    NEW    POSTAL    SERVICE 

joice  over  American  occupation  because  it  had  proved  a 
blessing  to  them,  and  because  it  had  brought  about  re- 
forms which  they  could  probably  never  have  brought 
about  themselves  unaided  by  the  wisdom  and  active  co- 
operation of  American  officials. 

It  was  worth  while  noting  that  Mr.  Rathbone,  like  the 
other  American  officials  in  Cuba,  was  following  practical 
civil  service  reform  ideas.  He  was  using  the  help  he 
found  in  the  offices,  and  he  was  discharging  no  one  ex- 
cept for  cause,  such  as  inefficiency  and  dishonesty.  At 
the  time  of  my  visit  he  owned  that  he  had  found  it  nec- 
essary to  seclude  himself  from  callers  to  some  extent,  in 
order  to  get  through  with  his  work.  There  were  quite  a 
few  stranded  Americans  in  the  country,  and,  with  the 
true  idea  of  the  American  when  he  gets  out  of  money  or 
out  of  a  job,  they  were  turning  to  the  government  to  get 
places.  The  stranded  Americans,  none  of  whom  had 
experience  in  postal  matters,  with  possibly  one  or  two 
exceptions,  were  flocking  to  him  to  get  work.  They  had 
no  idea  that  special  training  was  required  in  post-office 
work,  especially  in  Cuba.  They  wanted  work.  He  was 
an  American,  and  they  were  Americans,  and  a  good 
many  of  them  could  not  understand  why  they  could  not 
have  jobs  right  away.  They  were  beginning  to  exercise 
their  "pulls"  at  home,  and  he  was  having  something  of 
a  task  in  standing  them  off.  But  the  great  changes  which 
he  brought  about  in  less  than  two  months  revealed  not 
only  his  success  in  this  respect,  but  also  told  their  own 
story  of  his  efficiency  and  fidelity. 

One  thing  that  Mr.  Rathbone  said  to  me  ought  to  be 
spread  before  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  I  have 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

his  permission  to  quote  him.  He  came  in  contact  with 
the  real  people  of  Cuba  probably  to  a  greater  extent  than 
any  of  the  government  officials  that  the  United  States 
sent  to  the  island.  He  met  men  of  every  degree.  He 
had  to  travel  among  them,  and  to  seek  out  their  wants 
in  connection  with  his  department.  His  intercourse  was 
with  the  masses  rather  than  with  former  officials  or  mil- 
itary men.  In  the  language  of  the  politicians  of  our 
country,  he  had  to  get  right  down  among  the  plain  peo- 
ple, and  it  is  doubtful  if  any  American  sent  down  there 
had  better  opportunities  to  become  acquainted  with  them. 
This  is  what  he  said  to  me  for  publication,  as  coming 
from  him  as  the  result  of  his  experiences,  and  it  is  well 
worth  the  sober  second  thought  of  those  who  assert  that 
the  Cubans  are  a  worthless  people,  half  civilized,  and  un- 
worthy of  all  that  the  United  States  has  undertaken  or 
has  had  to  undertake  in  their  behalf  because  of  the  Weyler 
atrocities  and  the  destruction  of  the  Maine  : 

"  The  people  of  the  United  States  have  a  wrong  im- 
pression of  the  Cubans.  They  are  kind,  gentle,  tractable, 
and  easy  to  get  along  with.  By  kindness  you  can  do  any- 
thing in  the  world  with  them.  I  have  studied  them  close- 
ly, and  that  is  my  belief.  The  Cubans  are  naturally 
lethargic.  They  live  in  a  climate  that  is  enervating. 
They  do  not  step  off  quite  as  quickly  as  Americans  do, 
and  they  are  inclined  to  put  off  until  to-morrow  every- 
thing they  can,  and  are  not  as  prompt  as  Americans.  I 
think,  however,  that  Cuba  has  advanced  very  much  in 
the  last  fifty  days." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TAXATION   AND    MATTERS    OF    FINANCE    IN    HAVANA 

IN  the  orders  assigning  General  Ludlow  to  become  the 
military  governor  of  the  city  of  Havana  and  its  sub- 
urbs there  was  a  direction  that  he  should  cause  an 
investigation  to  be  made  as  to  the  income  and  expenses 
of  the  city,  and  also  as  to  the  methods  of  taxation  em- 
ployed. The  object  was  not  only  to  obtain  accurate  and 
necessary  information  for  the  proper  administration  of 
the  affairs  of  a  large  city  under  American  military  con- 
trol, but  also  to  correct  such  evils  of  grave  importance 
as  might  be  discovered.  There  was  little  doubt  that 
such  evils  did  exist. 

In  accordance  with  his  instructions,  General  Ludlow 
issued  an  order,  almost  as  soon  as  he  reached  Havana, 
establishing  what  was  called  a  Finance  Commission. 
The  order  was  dated  January  14th.  A  commission  of  six 
members  was  appointed  to  find  out  the  exact  condition 
of  the  city  treasury — to  learn  the  exact  sources  of  rev- 
enue of  the  city ;  how  this  revenue  was  collected,  ac- 
counted for,  and  where  it  was  deposited;  to  learn  the 
full  disposition  of  the  money  collected,  how  it  was  spent, 
by  whom,  and  on  what  authority;  to  learn  particulars 
of  the  bonded  debt  and  other  obligations  of  the  city, 

183 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

and  for  what  purposes  these  obligations  were  incurred  ; 
to  learn  how  advances  were  secured  and  loans  made,  and 
to  secure  any  other  information  of  importance  regard- 
ing the  city's  finances. 

The  commission  was  to  make  an  exhaustive  and  thor- 
ough study  into  matters  of  the  municipal  revenue,  with 
the  hope  of  finding  better  ways  of  distributing  the 
burden  arising  from  them,  and  to  stop  corrupt  practices 
wherever  they  existed.  It  was  a  task  involving  a  vast 
amount  of  research,  and  it  needed  the  supervision  and 
study  of  clear-headed  men.  For  the  chairman  of  this 
commission  General  Ludlow  selected  Mr.  Ernest  L. 
Conant,  a  New  York  lawyer,  just  entering  upon  middle 
age,  a  man  whose  legal  attainments  had  attracted  wide 
attention  in  our  law-schools.  He  had  been  a  teacher  in 
the  Harvard  Law  School,  and  when  he  left  the  theoreti- 
cal for  the  practical  side  of  the  law  he  did  so  against  the 
earnest  protests  of  President  Eliot  and  other  men,  who 
knew  his  worth  as  an  instructor  and  as  a  deep  student. 
Mr.  Conant  had  been  called  to  Havana  when  the  Evac- 
uation Commission  was  in  session  in  the  fall  of  1898. 
His  legal  work  was  of  great  value  to  the  American  com- 
missioners, and  when  that  work  was  over  he  remained 
in  the  city  to  look  after  certain  American  interests  of 
large  importance. 

General  Ludlow  immediately  decided  to  make  use  of 
Mr.  Conant's  ability.  Mr.  Conant  informed  him  that  he 
represented  certain  corporate  interests  in  Havana,  but 
General  Ludlow  said  he  saw  no  reason  why,  as  a  man  of 
honor,  he  could  not  maintain  business  relations  with  the 
administration  of  the  city  and   look  after  his  private 

184 


TAXATION  AND   FINANCE   IN    HAVANA 

clients  as  well,  inasmuch  as  his  private-  business  had  no 
connection  whatever  with  the  matter  of  city  finance  and 
taxation.  With  the  distinct  understanding  that  if  at  any 
time  questions  relating  to  the  interests  he  represented 
should  become  a  matter  for  decision  by  the  administra- 
tion they  should  be  passed  upon  strictly  on  their  merits 
and  without  regard  to  Mr.  Conant's  association  with 
them,  he  consented  to  head  the  commission  to  study  and 
report  upon  the  city's  finances. 

Associated  with  Mr.  Conant  were  Mr.  Leopoldo  Can- 
cio,  Samuel  M.  Jarvis,  Manuel  Villanova,  I.  N.  Casa- 
nova, and  George  W.  Hyatt,  most  of  whom  had  long 
been  residents  of  Havana,  were  familiar  with  the  busi- 
ness methods  of  the  place,  and  occupied  a  recognized 
place  of  the  highest  integrity  in  the  community.  The 
instructions  to  the  commission  were  to  do  the  work 
thoroughly,  and  to  report  as  soon  as  the  work  could  be 
accomplished.  General  Ludlow  gave  the  commission 
the  fullest  authority  to  examine  documents  and  records 
and  to  question  any  one  who  might  have  knowledge  of 
the  affairs  they  were  investigating.  He  set  aside  for 
them  the  office-room  and  workshop  of  former  Captain- 
General  Weyler,  and  they  were  instructed  to  sit  as  fre- 
quently as  they  could. 

The  commission  soon  found  that  there  had  not  been 
any  statement  or  report  prepared  regularly  of  the  exact 
amount  of  money  collected  by  the  city  or  of  its  exact 
expenses.  A  budget  had  been  prepared  each  year,  show- 
ing estimates  of  the  amount  of  money  required  to  run 
the  city,  but  it  was  never  the  custom  to  report  how  near 
the  expenses,  as  estimated  in  the  budget,  were  satisfied 

185 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

by  the  actual  collections  and  disbursements.  Mr.  Co- 
nant repeatedly  called  for  a  statement  as  to  city  expen- 
ditures, but  the  officials  said  there  was  none,  and  that  it 
could  not  be  compiled.  Mr.  Conant  thought  it  could 
be  compiled,  and  he  told  the  city  officials  so.  They  said 
it  would  take  an  immense  amount  of  research  and  labor, 
and  the  manana  pretext  was  called  into  use  for  delay. 
Mr.  Conant  expected  that  and  was  prepared  for  it,  and 
the  way  he  solved  the  problem  was  a  passing  illustration 
of  what  happens  when  so-called  Anglo-Saxon  methods 
come  in  conflict  with  Latin  methods  in  the  matter  of 
government.  Mr.  Conant  had  several  interviews  with 
the  chief  book-keeper  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Conant  has  a  manner  of  reserve,  but  of  great  force. 
He  always  speaks  in  a  low  tone,  never  gets  excited,  but 
has  a  persistence  that  is  developed  in  consecutive  and 
logical  steps,  and  that  refuses  to  be  thwarted  by  anything 
except  the  impossible.  The  amount  of  work  involved  in 
the  preparation  of  statements  did  not  bother  Mr.  Conant 
at  all.  It  was  possible  to  have  the  work  done,  and  there- 
fore Mr.  Conant,  in  his  quiet,  determined  way,  that  had  a 
strength  of  steel  in  it,  said  that  it  should  be  done  forth- 
with. 

Mr.  Conant  recalled  to  the  book-keeper  that  the  office 
force  had  had  practically  nothing  to  do  for  several  months, 
except  to  report  at  the  office,  remain  there  during  so-called 
office  hours,  and  then  go  home.  "  You  have  had  a  good 
long  rest,"  he  said,  "  and  it  is  only  right  that  you  should 
bear  a  little  of  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day.  I  myself 
work  from  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  midnight  fre- 
quently.    Suppose  you  have  your  clerks  report  at  eight 

1 86 


TAXATION   AND   FINANCE   IN    HAVANA 

o'clock  in  the  morning,  with  the  understanding  that  they 
remain  as  long  as  seems  necessary."  A  hint  that  if  the 
office  help  could  not  perform  the  work  that  was  wanted 
it  would  be  necessary  for  the  commission  to  find  men  who 
could  do  it  was  sufficient  to  transform  the  office  into  a 
hive  of  excited  activity.  Mr.  Conant  set  a  time  when  he 
wanted  the  report  of  expenses  for  the  year  that  had  passed 
transcribed,  visited  the  office  several  times  during  the 
day,  smoothed  out  the  wrinkles  here  and  there,  dropped 
a  word  or  two,  which  were  galvanic  in  their  action  upon 
the  officials,  and,  lo  and  behold !  the  impossible,  according 
to  the  officials,  had  been  accomplished,  and  according  to 
the  time  limit  set. 

It  was  a  commendable  piece  of  work,  and  Mr.  Conant 
told  the  officials  so,  and,  to  prove  his  sincerity  and  his  ap- 
preciation of  it,  said  that  inasmuch  as  they  had  prepared 
a  table  for  one  year,  he  then  desired  them  to  go  back  and 
prepare  one  for  each  of  the  nine  years  preceding.  That 
was  such  a  droll  American  way,  the  former  Spanish  of- 
ficials thought,  of  doing  unheard-of  and  really  unnecessary 
business  ;  but  their  shrugs  and  gestures  and  dismayed 
looks  availed  them  nothing,  and  so  the  work  went  on, 
and  promptly  too.  In  this  way  tables  of  receipts  and  ex- 
penditures were  prepared  for  ten  years  back,  and  the 
commission  had  something  on  which  to  begin  work. 

The  committee's  sessions  were  consumed  with  the  ex- 
amination of  the  figures  and  the  questioning  of  witnesses. 
A  complete  record  was  kept  of  the  proceedings,  for  sub- 
mission to  the  American  authorities  and  their  inspection. 
The  hearings  were  not  public. 

Every  side  of  municipal  finance  was  considered.  All 
189 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  city  contracts  were  examined  and  passed  upon. 
Grants  and  concessions,  made  for  whatever  reason,  were 
examined,  and  all  their  ramifications  followed  up.  Many- 
cases  of  favoritism  were  disclosed  ;  situations  where  there 
was  opportunity  for  fraud  were  laid  bare.  There  was 
need  occasionally  for  great  tact  in  the  investigation  ;  and 
Mr.  Conant,  as  chairman  of  the  commission,  was  daily  in 
consultation  with  General  Ludlow.  He  was  one  of  the 
few  callers  upon  General  Ludlow  who  practically  had  free 
admission  to  the  general's  presence  at  any  time.  He  be- 
came practically  the  consulting  counsel  or  city  attorney 
of  the  American  administration.  It  was  found  that  the 
taxes  were  collected  in  several  ways.  Part  of  them  were 
collected  by  the  Spanish  Bank,  under  an  agreement  by 
which  certain  loans  were  made  to  the  city.  The  chief  of 
these  loans  was  one  of  $7,000,000  for  the  building  of  the 
excellent  water-works  system  of  the  city.  Other  taxes 
were  collected  in  a  more  or  less  loose  way  by  contract 
and  a  percentage  system.  There  was  great  looseness  in 
the  disbursements,  as  was  to  be  expected.  All  sorts  of 
licenses  and  imposts  were  exacted  wherever  it  was  pos- 
sible to  place  them,  and  there  was  evasion  and  deception 
in  returns.  The  revenue  from  water  consumption  was 
nearly  $300,000  a  year,  and  the  tax  on  meat  consumption 
was  said  to  be  as  high  as  $675,000  a  year.  Certain  con- 
tracts were  found  to  be  not  in  accordance  with  good  pub- 
lic policy,  and  it  was  soon  seen  that  some  of  them  ought 
to  be  abrogated  for  good  and  sufficient  cause.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  inquiry  was  not  so  much  to  punish  as  to  cor- 
rect abuses,  although  if  it  was  found  necessary  it  was 
decided  that  there  would  be  no  hesitation  about  punish- 

190 


TAXATION   AND   FINANCE   IN   HAVANA 

ment.  The  idea  was  to  reform  thoroughly  the  money 
administration  of  the  city,  and  put  it  on  as  satisfactory  a 
basis  as  that  of  the  honest  administration  of  the  Custom- 
house under  American  military  control. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  there  were  great  frauds 
in  the  management  and  collection  of  water  rents.  Grad- 
ually they  piled  up  to  such  an  extent  that  there  was 
need  of  immediate  correction  in  a  wholesale  way.  It 
was  found  that  there  were  thousands  of  persons  getting 
their  water  free,  through  favoritism  and  corruption.  The 
way  this  was  stopped  forms  a  fine  illustration  of  what 
American  thoroughness  coupled  with  intelligence  and 
tact  can  do.  There  are  in  Havana  something  like  thirty- 
nine  barrios,  or  wards,  each  having  an  alcalde  of  its  own 
— an  official  with  powers  something  like  a  mayor  of  the 
district.  These  alcaldes  had  control  of  the  collection  of 
water  rents.  They  could  give  free  water  to  persons  for 
a  consideration,  and  it  was  believed,  with  good  reason,, 
that  they  shared  their  plunder  with  other  persons  higher 
in  authority.  It  was  all  part  of  the  great  stealing  game 
that  had  been  going  on  in  Havana  for  decades.  All  pub- 
lic business  and  a  large  amount  of  private  business  in 
Cuba  were  keyed  to  the  idea  of  plunder.  Somebody 
robbed  you,  and  you  robbed  somebody  else  to  get  even,, 
and  so  the  game  went  on,  until  the  burden  rested  finally 
upon  the  one  least  able  to  bear  it — the  poor  man  who 
toiled  for  almost  nothing,  and  was  a  slave  to  a  base  com- 
mercial system. 

Mr.  Conant  had  a  long  conversation  with  General  Lud- 
low one  day,  and  a  plan  was  adopted  to  stop  the  water 
frauds  in  a  flash,  and  to  detect  those  who  were  commit- 

191 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

ting  them.  The  new  police  force  had  been  formed,  but 
was  not  in  active  service.  One  day  General  Menocal, 
the  chief  of  police,  received  directions  to  place  his  entire 
force  of  something  like  eight  hundred  men  at  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  Finance  Commission  at  a  certain  hour, 
without  knowing  what  it  was  for.     That  morning  Mr. 


PERFECTO    LACOSTE, 
NEW   MAYOR   OF   HAVANA 


Conant,  with  a  force  of  twelve  clerks,  descended  upon  the 
Spanish  Bank  and  began  an  exhaustive  examination  of 
its  books.  By  noon  this  force  had  copied  the  names  of 
seven  thousand  persons  who  were  using  the  water  of  the 
city  without  paying  for  it.  These  names  were  classified 
by  districts  and  streets,  and  a  certain  number  was  appor- 

192 


TAXATION    AND    FINANCE   IN   HAVANA 

tioned  to  each  policeman.  It  took  an  immense  amount 
of  work,  but  it  was  done  thoroughly. 

The  plan  was  to  send  a  policeman  to  each  house  and 
catch  the  person  using  the  city  water.  It  was  feared, 
however,  that  if  the  alcaldes  should  find  out  what  was 
going  on  they  would  send  out  runners  and  warn  those 
committing  the  frauds,  and  thus  the  work  of  catching 
these  persons  in  the  act  might  be  rendered  futile  to  some 
extent.  It  was  planned  at  first  to  arrest  every  one  of 
the  alcaldes,  but  Mr.  Conant  and  his  associates  evolved  a 
more  clever  plan,  one  that  showed  great  tact. 

It  was  decided  to  send  a  carriage  with  a  messenger 
and  a  written  invitation  to  each  of  the  alcaldes,  summon- 
ing them  at  once  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Finance 
Commission  to  consult  about  the  water  -  supply  of  the 
city,  and  to  suggest  to  the  commission  any  changes  in 
the  business  methods  that  might  seem  desirable.  The 
alcaldes  took  the  bait.  Some  of  them  had  never  been  in 
the  Governor -General's  palace,  and  they  thought  it  a 
great  honor  to  be  invited  there  specially  and  to  come  in 
style.  The  carriages  and  messengers  dashed  away  about 
one  o'clock,  and  before  two  o'clock  the  alcaldes  began  to 
arrive.  By  half-past  two  o'clock  more  than  thirty  had 
arrived,  and  had  received  a  warm  welcome.  As  soon  as 
the  alcaldes  were  safely  cornered  the  police  were  started 
out  in  their  work,  and  they  caught  more  than  seven 
thousand  persons  actually  stealing  water.  Of  course  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  arrest  them  all,  and  so 
their  names  were  taken,  and  instructions  were  given  that 
they  must  pay  henceforth. 

Meantime  the  alcaldes  began  to  get  restless.  They  did 
n  193 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

not  know  exactly  why  they  were  summoned,  and  upon 
the  pretext  of  waiting  for  belated  arrivals  a  desirable 
delay  was  made  before  opening  the  proceedings  of  the 
conference.  Finally,  about  three  o'clock,  Mr.  Conant  be- 
gan to  speak.  He  wanted  information  as  to  how  they 
had  conducted  the  water  business  in  their  respective 
wards.  They  were  very  reluctant  to  speak  at  first,  but 
finally  some  of  them  admitted  that  there  might  be  frauds 
here  and  there,  but  each  one  insisted  that  the  frauds  were 
in  some  other  man's  bailiwick.  Every  man  present  was 
sure  that  his  own  skirts  were  clear.  Mr.  Conant  was 
glad  to  hear  such  convincing  testimony,  of  course,  but 
he  wanted  to  know  how  it  was  possible  to  commit  any 
frauds.  Gradually  they  loosened  up,  and  by  four  o'clock 
they  were  quite  voluble.  For  an  hour  the  conversation 
was  animated  on  all  sides.  The  full  history  of  the  water 
operations  was  gone  into,  and  the  commissioners  declared 
that  they  were  happy  to  get  accurate  and  full  informa- 
tion. Would  the  alcaldes  continue  to  tell  what  had  been 
done,  and  what  they  thought  should  be  done  ?  By  five 
o'clock  the  tongues  of  the  voluble  alcaldes  had  become 
completely  unloosed,  and  the  commissioners  quit  talking. 
They  preserved  a  grave  face,  although  it  was  somewhat 
trying  to  do  so,  and  the  alcaldes  ran  the  meeting.  They 
were  intensely  excited,  and  even  accusations  came  thick 
and  fast.  Of  suggestions  there  was  no  limit.  By  six 
o'clock  it  was  impossible  to  stop  them,  and  it  would  have 
been  hard  to  predict  when  the  meeting  would  come  to 
an  end  naturally.  The  commissioners  were  in  high  fet- 
tle, but  concealed  it  most  skilfully.  Finally  word  came 
that  the  work  of  the  police  was  done,  and,  with  a  gravity 

194 


ERNEST    LEE    CONANT 
Chairman  Havana  Finance  Commission 


TAXATION   AND   FINANCE   IN   HAVANA 

that  only  a  true  humorist  could  appreciate,  the  alcaldes 
were  dismissed,  with  the  great  thanks  of  the  commission 
for  their  valuable  services,  and  they  went  home.  They 
had  been  under  a  delightful  duress  all  the  afternoon  and 
had  not  suspected  it.  They  were  told  that,  inasmuch  as 
the  conference  could  not  complete  its  work  that  day, 
they  might  be  summoned  another  day,  and  they  left, 
pleased  at  the  great  consideration  that  had  been  shown 
to  them.  The  Americans  were  not  so  bad,  after  all,  and 
their  politeness  was  especially  worthy  of  all  praise.  That 
conference  saved  the  city  of  Havana  not  less  than  $100,- 
ooo.  The  full  report  of  the  commission's  doing  disclosed 
many  abuses,  and  as  result  there  will  be  a  reasonable  sys- 
tem of  local  taxation  set  in  operation,  one  that  will  be 
free  from  the  burden  of  fraud  and  robbery,  and  at  the 
same  time  that  will  be  adequate  to  the  financial  needs  of 
the  city. 

Although  not  directly  allied  to  the  subject  of  taxation, 
the  introduction  of  modern  banking  methods  in  Cuba 
was  a  subject  of  great  financial  importance  to  the  busi- 
ness interests  of  the  island,  and  it  will  not  be  out  of  place 
here  to  refer  to  it.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  adminis- 
tration, after  the  American  occupation  of  Cuba  had  be- 
come necessary,  was  to  appoint  the  North  American 
Trust  Company  of  New  York  City  the  fiscal  agent  of  the 
United  States  in  Cuba.  It  resulted,  first  of  all,  in  the 
establishment  of  a  modern  bank  in  Havana.  There  were 
banks  in  the  city,  but  not  such  as  are  known  in  the  United 
States  and  European  countries  generally.  Their  business 
was  an  exchange  business  chiefly.  It  had  to  do  largely 
with  the  buying  and  selling  of  exchange  on  American 

197 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

and  European  money  centres.  There  was  no  deposit 
system  as  we  know  it.  The  banks  would  take  deposits, 
but  they  preferred  not  to  encourage  that  branch  of  the 
business,  simply  because  it  was  not  the  general  custom. 
Checks  were  used  against  money  deposited  in  a  modified 
way,  but  it  was  an  unusual  method  of  doing  business, 
and  had  little  vogue  in  a  community  used  to  all  kinds  of 
stealing.  It  was  for  that  reason  that  the  large  merchants 
kept  their  gold  in  safes  in  their  business  houses.  They 
were  fairly  sure  of  having  their  own  money  by  that 
means. 

This  method  of  retaining  direct  control  of  their  funds 
probably  explains  one  remarkable  fact.  There  were  no 
large  failures  in  Havana  as  the  result  of  the  war  and  its 
complete  prostration  of  business.  The  shrewd  men  of 
property  and  large  moneyed  interests  discounted  practi- 
cally the  serious  state  of  affairs  that  they  saw  was  com- 
ing, and  husbanded  their  resources  in  such  a  way  that 
they  escaped  a  great  crash,  such  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  the  complete  stagnation  of  commerce,  the 
inability  to  make  collections,  or  to  get  good  security 
for  loans.  It  is  a  great  tribute  to  the  business  sagacity 
of  the  merchants  and  moneyed  men  of  the  city  that 
they  were  able  to  weather  the  storm  as  they  did,  and  it 
showed  a  clever  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  in  a  com- 
munity where  the  money  side  of  exchange  of  commerce 
was  managed  so  crudely. 

There  has  been  a  general  impression  that  there  has 
always  been  great  risk  in  investments  in  Cuba.  Mr. 
Alfred  H.  Swayne,  the  Assistant  General  Manager  of 
the  North  American  Trust  Company  in  Cuba,  said  to 

198 


TAXATION   AND   FINANCE   IN   HAVANA 

me  that  there  was  great  error  in  this  respect.  Invest- 
ments in  Cuba,  he  said,  were  safe  enough,  and  had  al- 
ways been  safe  enough  if  managed  properly.  Although 
there  had  been  for  decades  a  condition  of  uncertainty  as 
to  land  titles,  and  although  in  many  cases  it  required  as 
much  as  20  per  cent,  of  the  purchase  price  to  have  a 


FELIX   YZNAGA, 

SECRETARY   TO   THE   MUNICIPALITY 

transfer  of  land  recorded,  there  were  other  ways  of 
securing  loans  than  by  giving  and  receiving  mortgages. 
In  the  old  way,  when  a  man  loaned  money  on  any  com- 
modity the  lender  became  the  actual  owner  of  the  prop- 
erty until  the  money  loaned  was  paid.  Of  course,  in  the 
hands  of  unscrupulous  men,  such  loans  were  frequently 

199 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

used  in  oppression  and  fraud.  Nevertheless,  in  a  well- 
established  form  of  business  a  general  respect  for  the 
methods  adopted  was  absolutely  necessary,  and  the  ele- 
ment of  fraud  in  this  line  was  not  large.  A  favorite 
form  of  collateral  was  railroad  stock.  The  railroads  in 
Cuba  had  no  bonds,  but  the  stock  was  large  and  well 
distributed,  and  it  was  not  difficult  to  secure  it  for  the 
purpose  of  loan-making. 

The  North  American  Trust  Company  established  a 
modern  bank  of  exchange  and  discount.  It  also  began 
to  receive  accounts  subject  to  check.  The  merchants 
were  slow  to  adopt  such  a  serious  change  in  their  busi- 
ness methods,  but  not  a  day  passed  in  the  early  part  of 
the  year  when  accounts  were  not  opened.  There  was 
some  difficulty  at  first  in  making  out  deposit  slips,  be- 
cause it  was  necessary  to  keep  two  distinct  accounts  for 
every  man.  One  was  an  account  in  Spanish  gold,  to 
which  all  Cuban  money  deposited  was  reduced,  and  an- 
other was  in  American  currency.  What  is  known  as  the 
Spanish  five-dollar  gold  piece,  the  centen,  had  a  value 
of  $4  89  in  American  money  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 
The  value  of  exchange  was  fixed  by  brokers  who  were 
accustomed  to  seek  business  in  that  form  of  buying  and 
selling. 

Another  improvement  in  banking  methods,  early  es- 
tablished by  the  trust  company,  was  to  open  safe-deposit 
vaults — something  that  hitherto  had  been  unknown  in 
Cuba.  There  was  under  contemplation,  at  the  time  of 
my  visit,  the  establishment  of  a  savings-bank  depart- 
ment. One  wonders  how  the  island  ever  got  along 
under  the  old  regime.     It  did  retard  business  life,  and 


TAXATION   AND   FINANCE   IN   HAVANA 

in  certain  lines  crippled  it,  but  the  merchants  got  on 
somehow,  at  the  expense  of  that  confidence  and  satis- 
factory means  of  exchange  of  commodities  so  necessary 
to  the  existence  of  modern  business  life. 

With  reduced  rates  of  transportation  on  railroads  al- 
ready in  sight — because  Spanish  robbery  and  taxation 
equal  almost  to  reprisal  have  been  removed — and  with 
modern  facilities  of  exchange  already  established  in  the 
island,  it  would  seem  that  the  business  outlook  for  Cuba 
must  brighten  at  once,  even  while  the  people  are  wait- 
ing to  know  what  kind  of  a  permanent  government  is  to 
be  established.  If  it  shall  really  be  a  stable  government, 
vouched  for  by  the  American  people  as  represented  by 
the  national  administration,  capital  is  bound  to  go  to 
Cuba  with  a  rush,  and  the  laborers  to  put  that  capital 
into  full  play  will  follow,  and  the  result  must  be,  it 
would  seem,  according  to  ordinary  reasoning,  that  the 
island  in  good  time  will  become,  what  many  of  the 
Cubans  are  fond  of  calling  it,  "a  cup  of  gold." 

Gold  is  a  talismanic  word  in  Cuba.  With  all  its 
troubles  Cuba  never  wavered  in  its  devotion  to  the  gold 
standard.  An  artificial  premium  was  put  upon  gold  to 
keep  it  from  going  to  Spain.  A  great  transformation 
in  its  money  system  early  in  the  year  was  coming  over 
the  island.  The  American  invasion  of  peace  had  practi- 
cally established  a  new  standard,  the  American  gold 
standard — not  the  artificial  and  slightly  varying  Span- 
ish gold  standard.  Our  money  was  in  free  circulation 
all  over  the  island  in  February  last.  Merchants,  ticket- 
sellers  on  the  railroads,  and  cashiers  in  other  places 
knew  just  what  to  do  when  American  money  was  given 

201 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

to  them  in  payment  for  value  received.  There  would 
be  invariably  a  lot  of  figuring  on  a  pad — figuring  that 
I  could  never  pretend  to  comprehend — but  one  always 
received  his  change  accurately  in  Spanish  or  American 
money,  as  the  case  might  be.  The  people  preferred 
American  money,  not  so  much  because  it  was  gold- 
standard  money  as  because  it  had  an  absolutely  fixed 
value.  It  became  the  standard,  and  Spanish  gold  was 
adjusted  to  it  day  by  day.  It  was  driving  Spanish 
money  out  of  general  use  rapidly. . 

With  honest  taxation  and  the  honest  collection  of 
taxes,  with  a  modern  and  firm  banking  method  upon  the 
basis  of  the  American  gold  standard,  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  honesty  in  official  methods,  with  the  purification 
of  the  cities,  with  the  consequent  investment  of  large 
capital,  it  seems  entirely  reasonable  to  say  that  the  re- 
covery of  Cuba  from  the  disaster  of  war  must  be  certain, 
and  even  more  fruitful  than  is  customary  when  the  ways 
of  peace  have  superseded  those  of  the  sword  and  the 
torch. 


CHAPTER    IX 

AMERICANS     IX     CUBA  —  THE     DESCENT    UPON    THE     ISLAM) 
AND    ITS    RESULTS 

THE  peace  protocol  between  the  United  States  and 
Spain  had  been  signed  only  a  few  days  when  the 
American  descent  upon  Cuba  began.  To  use  a 
military  figure,  the  first  of  the  Americans  who  hastened 
to  the  island  were  the  scouts,  or  skirmishers,  of  a  new 
force  or  army  —  that  of  commercial  occupation.  The 
main  body  of  this  force  did  not  arrive  in  Havana  until 
after  the  Spanish  army  had  gone  home.  It  was  a  mot- 
ley mass.  There  was  no  coherency  or  order  about  this 
new  army.  It  was  a  case  of  every  man  for  himself  and 
the  devil  take  the  hindmost.  Without  being  too  literal 
in  the  application,  it  may  be  said  that  the  devil  not  only 
took  the  hindmost,  but  a  good  many  of  the  foremost  of 
the  arrivals.  By  the  ist  of  February  Havana  was  filled 
with  Americans,  and  there  were  a  good  many  who  wished 
they  had  not  come. 

It  was  interesting  to  study  this  secondary  American 
army.  Its  members  seemed  to  outnumber  the  real 
American  army  of  occupation  —  the  military.  There 
were  thousands  of  men  who  really  had  legitimate  busi- 
ness on  the  island  ;  there  were  hundreds  who  were  mere 

203 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

adventurers  in  business,  syndicate- chasers,  franchise- 
grabbers,  political  contractors,  and  the  like.  Among  the 
first  arrivals  after  the  activities  of  war  had  ceased  were 
the  newspaper  correspondents.  Their  errand  was  of  the 
highest   rank.     Next  to  them  in  importance  were  the 


HAVANA  S    STEAM-DUMMY  STREET-CAR   LINE 


men  who  had  business  interests  in  the  island,  vested 
rights,  and  other  property  of  various  kinds  —  men  who 
took  the  first  opportunity  of  reaching  the  place  where 
their  money  was  at  stake.  Some  of  them  had  been  fugi- 
tives from  the  island,  and  some  were  Americans  who  had 

204 


AMERICANS    IN    CUBA 

investments  to  be  safeguarded.  Then  came  the  repre- 
sentatives of  business  houses  whose  trade  with  the  island 
had  been  interrupted  by  the  war,  and  who  desired  to  re- 
establish business  connections.  Then  came  emissaries 
from  business  men  who  had  never  had  any  dealings  in 
Cuba,  but  who  thought  that  the  new  conditions  pre- 
sented a  legitimate  opportunity  for  the  extension  of  trade. 

Soon  there  arrived  the  franchise-seekers,  the  contrac- 
tors, the  adventurers  in  business,  willing  to  take  hold  of 
"any  old  thing"  for  the  sake  of  selling  out  again  ;  a  few 
gamblers  and  crooks ;  men  of  limited  means,  hoping  to 
get  profitable  jobs  in  the  work  of  regenerating  the  place 
on  American  ideas  ;  some  office-seekers  with  more  or 
less  hazy  M  pulls  "  in  Washington  and  elsewhere  ;  tourists 
of  all  sorts ;  merchants  of  small  capital  intending  to 
open  retail  shops ;  and,  by  no  means  least  of  all,  the 
agents  of  American  breweries,  who  plastered  Havana 
from  one  end  to  the  other  with  lithographed  advertise- 
ments of  American  beer,  giving  the  Cubans  warped  and 
exaggerated  ideas  of  Americans  as  a  nation  of  hard 
drinkers. 

This  second  army  of  American  occupation  was  always 
seen  to  the  best  advantage  at  night,  in  and  around  Cen- 
tral Park  in  Havana.  Its  members  filled  the  cafes, 
crowded  the  sidewalks,  patronized  the  cabs  extensively, 
filled  the  theatres  that  were  running,  and  caused  a  babel 
of  voices  in  the  centre  of  town,  in  which  more  English 
words  than  Spanish  could  be  heard  as  one  passed  along. 
Most  of  these  Americans  had  serious  faces.  Their  money 
was  being  used  up  every  day,  and  there  was  little  cer- 
tainty that  any  adequate  return  would  result  from  their 

205 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

work.  They  saluted  one  another  at  night,  and  asked 
how  they  were  getting  on,  and  the  commonest  expression 
to  be  heard  was  : 

"I  think  I'll  go  home  next  week." 

A  great  many. did  go  home  after  a  few  days'  visit,  but 
there  were  some  who  could  not,  as  the  Collector  of  Cus- 
toms, Colonel  Tasker  H.  Bliss,  and  the  Director  of  Posts, 
Mr.  E.  G.  Rathbone,  could  testify,  for  men  descended 
upon  them  in  swarms  with  applications  for  jobs  ;  and 
the  lot  of  the  applicants  was  like  unto  that  of  the  office- 
seeker  who  goes  to  Washington  when  an  administration 
changes,  and  who  finally  jumps  a  board  bill,  or  else  takes 
to  sweeping  out  some  place  for  a  livelihood. 

The  real  men  of  power  in  this  army,  however,  were 
seldom  seen.  They  had  little  time  for  drinking  in  public 
places.  They  were  fighting  for  position  in  the  future, 
and  they  played  a  great  game.  This  competition  became 
so  fierce  over  one  business  enterprise  that  there  were  re- 
sultant hints  and  finally  open  charges  of  corruption  and 
bribery. 

One  of  the  storm  centres  of  American  commercial  oc- 
cupation of  Cuba  was  to  be  found  in  the  effort  to  secure 
control  of  the  street-railway  system  of  Havana.  The 
struggle  began  long  before  the  Spanish  army  left  town, 
and  it  was  characterized  by  excitement.  A  combination 
of  an  American  and  a  European  syndicate  apparently 
was  successful  in  defeating  half  a  dozen  other  syndicates 
in  getting  hold  of  this  property  and  its  supposed  valua- 
ble opportunities,  but  the  struggle  was  transferred  to  the 
courts,  where  the  agents  of  the  deal  were  indicted  for 
bribery. 

206 


AMERICANS    IN    CUBA 

There  were  many  reasons  why  the  street-car  system  of 
Havana  seemed  to  be  an  excellent  field  for  investment. 
In  the  first  place,  the  climate  of  the  place  is  such  that 
one  can  rarely  walk  more  than  a  few  blocks  in  comfort. 
In  the  second  place,  the  trolley  improvements  in  recent 
years  have  made  street-car  enterprises  most  profitable  in 
any  city  of  good  size.  The  street-car  system  of  Havana 
was  antiquated,  badly  conducted,  and  yet  it  is  said  to  have 
paid  excellent  dividends  upon  an  investment  capitalized 
at  $1,500,000.  Although  there  were  said  to  be  6000  cabs 
in  the  city,  which  gave  expeditious  service  at  very  reason- 
able rates,  it  was  seen  that  a  modern  trolley  system  run- 
ning to  the  four  leading  suburbs  of  the  town,  and  to  the 
ferry  to  another  suburb,  would  probably  not  only  secure 
that  increase  in  business  which  usually  follows  improve- 
ments in  street-car  service,  but  would  lessen  the  number 
of  cabs  along  the  lines  of  the  road  in  the  city.  This  mat- 
ter of  control  of  the  street-car  lines  of  Havana,  therefore, 
came  to  be  regarded  as  probably  the  best  business  oppor- 
tunity for  American  capitalists  on  the  island  of  Cuba. 
There  are  four  of  these  railroads  in  the  city.  They  run 
to  the  suburbs  known  as  Vedado,  Principe,  Cerro,  and 
Jesus  del  Monte.  They  were  all  controlled  by  one  com- 
pany, known  as  the  Urbano  Company,  and  the  entire 
length  of  all  the  systems  is  about  twenty-five  miles.  The 
cars  of  the  company  were  dirty  and  old.  Each  car  was 
drawn  at  a  snail's  pace  by  three  mules,  except  on  the  line 
to  Vedado,  where  steam -dummies  were  the  propelling 
power.  There  had  always  been  stealing  on  the  line  by 
employes,  and  the  usual  corruption  attendant  upon  the 
management  of  any  enterprise,  public  or  semi-public,  by 
o  209 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Spanish  interests.  The  Spanish  soldiers  never  pretended 
to  pay  fare  on  any  of  the  lines,  and  on  some  of  them  it 
was  the  custom  not  to  charge  fare  for  persons  who  rode 
on  the  platform.  The  entire  system  was  run  down,  with 
miserable  rolling-stock  and  road-bed  ;  and  yet,  with  all 
these  disadvantages,  and  with  the  corruption  that  found 
a  lodging-place  there,  it  managed  to  pay  such  dividends 
that  the  stock  was  quoted  at  par. 

There  were  seven  syndicates  after  the  system.  One 
was  known  popularly  as  the  Harvey  syndicate  of  New 
York,  and  that  is  the  one  which  secured  possession. 
Percival  Farquhar,  of  New  York,  was  the  attorney  who 
looked  after  the  legal  transfer  of  the  property.  There 
was  an  English  syndicate,  represented  by  McLean  and 
Dickinson,  one  of  whom  was  superintendent  and  general 
manager  of  the  small  railroad  running  from  Havana  to 
Marianao.  Another  syndicate  was  English  and  French 
in  origin,  and  was  known  as  the  Ruffel  and  Todd  syn- 
dicate, representing  foreign  banking  interests.  Still  an- 
other syndicate  was  backed  by  the  International  Bank  of 
Paris,  whose  interests  were  finally  pooled  with  those  of 
the  Harvey  syndicate,  and  which  was  represented  in 
Havana  by  a  lawyer  named  Castaneda,  well  known  in 
Madrid  and  Cuba.  Another  was  the  Toronto  syndi- 
cate, backed  by  Mr.  McKenzie  and  the  Bank  of  To- 
ronto. Another  was  the  Tom  Johnson  syndicate  of 
New  York  and  Ohio,  represented  by  a  man  named 
R.  Guzman  ;  and  still  another  was  the  American-Indes 
company,  commonly  known  as  the  Widener-Elkins  syn- 
dicate. 

The  stock  of  the  company  was  held  in  such  small  lots 

2IO 


AMERICANS    IN    CUBA 

that  it  was  seen  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  any  one 
syndicate  to  get  control  by  dealing  directly  with  the 
stockholders.  Operations  had  to  be  conducted  with  the 
board  of  directors  and  the  officials  as  the  point  of  attack. 
One  of  the  syndicates  obtained  a  minor  concession,  and 
began  constructing  branch  lines  in  the  hope  of  getting  a 
foothold  in  the  company's  affairs.  First  one  of  the  com- 
binations and  then  another  seemed  to  ha&e  the  advantage 
in  the  fierce  rivalry.  The  company  that  built  the  branch 
lines  operated  under  what  was  known  as  the  Pla  conces- 
sion. It  was  a  legitimate  enterprise,  but  under  its  fran- 
chise the  existing  company  had  the  right  to  buy  at  cost 
figures  any  branch  lines  built  under  the  concession,  and 
so  this  flanking  operation  came  to  naught  by  the  dis- 
covery of  a  clause  in  the  charter  which  had  been  over- 
looked by  many  who  had  interests  at  stake.  The  rivalry 
reached  such  a  stage  finally  that  it  seemed  desirable  for 
combinations  among  the  competitors,  and  the  syndicates 
represented  by  Mr.  Farquhar  and  by  Mr.  Castaneda 
pooled  their  interests.  Mr.  Castaneda  had  succeeded  in 
having  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  called  at  which 
only  one  proposition  could  be  considered.  That  was  an 
authorization  for  the  trustees  to  sell  the  railroad  system 
to  the  interests  he  represented.  The  meeting  was  held 
on  December  14,  1898,  and  lasted  all  the  afternoon.  It 
was  an  exciting  time.  Speeches  of  such  intensity  as  only 
Cubans  and  Spaniards  can  deliver  were  made,  and  the 
tide  surged  back  and  forth.  Finally  the  Castaneda  side 
won,  and  the  sale  was  authorized.  The  meeting,  under 
some  technical  ruling,  could  not  consider  any  other  offer. 
It  might  reject  the  Castaneda  proposition,  but  it  could 

213 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

adopt  no  other.  It  showed  the  clever  skirmishing  that 
abounded  in  the  fight. 

Before  the  papers  could  be  signed  a  serious  complica- 
tion arose.  Mr.  Castaneda  was  arrested  one  night — 
through  the  influence  of  rival  syndicates,  it  is  charged 
— and  thrown  in  prison.  The  Spanish  still  occupied  the 
main  part  of  the  city,  and  an  order  is  said  to  have  been 
secured  to  transport  Mr.  Castaneda  to  Spain  on  a  steam- 
er the  next  morning  as  a  person  whose  presence  was  not 
conducive  to  the  public  welfare.  Mr.  Castaneda  was 
placed  incommunicado.  He  was  missed,  and  an  effort 
was  made  to  get  him  out  of  jail,  where  he  had  been  com- 
mitted by  the  civil  governor  of  Havana  province.  Senor 
Montoro,  Minister  of  Finance,  was  aroused,  and  through 
his  intercession  the  syndicate  lawyer  was  released.  He 
went  straight  to  the  American  lines  in  the  suburbs,  and 
also  gave  a  power  of  attorney  in  case  of  any  similar 
trouble. 

The  control  of  the  system  thus  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  combined  syndicates  ;  but  it  was  charged  that  the 
directors  were  bribed  to  sell  out  at  ninety-two  cents  on  the 
dollar,  when  another  company  was  willing  to  pay  a  pre- 
mium of  eight  per  cent,  on  the  dollar  for  the  same  stock. 
Some  stockholders  got  together  and  began  operations  to 
have  the  sale  of  the  road  set  aside,  and  to  prosecute  the 
directors  and  agents  criminally  for  bribery.  It  had  the 
effect  of  tying  up  further  operations.  The  men  who 
were  behind  the  prosecution  in  the  courts  declared  that 
they  had  indisputable  proof  of  bribery  in  the  shape  of 
documentary  evidence.  The  managers  of  the  Harvey 
syndicate  declared  as  positively  that  there  was  no  truth 

214 


AMERICANS    IN    CUBA 

in  the  assertion,  and  said  it  was  an  attempt  at  blackmail 
by  certain  stockholders  who  thought  they  could  make  a 
few  thousand  dollars  in  that  way.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  price  paid  for  the  property  and  the  price  said 
to  have  been  offered  was  $240,000. 

The  criminal  charges  came  up  before  the  Judge  of  the 
Cathedral,  Mr.  Ayllon,  Marquis  of  Villalba,  of  whom  La 
Luclia,  the  leading  newspaper  of  Havana,  spoke  as  en- 
joying "  in  this  community  the  reputation  of  being  one 
of  the  few  judges  whose  honesty  and  energy  have  never 
been  doubted."  He,  in  his  capacity  as  a  grand  jury, 
found  an  indictment  against  the  officials.  The  case  was 
taken  before  another  judge  for  review,  and  the  men  be- 
hind the  prosecution  said  they  had  good  reason  to  fear 
that  they  would  lose  the  case.  In  some  way  it  was  trans- 
ferred to  still  another  judge,  and  he  decided  that  the  in- 
dictment must  stand  and  the  case  proceed. 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  Harvey  syndicate  to  put 
the  system  in  the  best  possible  condition.  About  sixty 
cars  were  in  use  under  the  old  regime,  and  it  was  in- 
tended to  increase  the  number  to  one  hundred  at  first, 
and  to  two  hundred  ultimately.  The  double  overhead 
trolley  system  was  decided  upon  for  installation,  inas- 
much as  the  heavy  rains  in  the  summer  made  the  under- 
ground trolley  impracticable.  It  was  planned  to  bring 
down  Italian  laborers  from  the  United  States,  largely 
because  there  were  no  available  manual  laborers  to  be 
had  in  Cuba,  and  because  Italian  labor  could  be  secured 
which  would  be  familiar  with  that  kind  of  work. 

Among  the  other  syndicates  that  were  planning  to, 
operate   in  Havana  was  one  seeking  to  control  the  gas 

215 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

supply.  It  was  said  that  the  works  were  bonded  to  the 
extent  of  several  times  the  price  that  the  syndicate 
wished  to  pay,  and  at  the  time  of  my  visit  nothing  had 
been  done  of  a  definite  nature  about  the  matter.  There 
were  other  syndicates  desiring  to  erect  warehouses  and 
piers,  but  the  outlook  was  not  favorable  for  the  invest- 
ment of  large  sums  in  such  enterprises. 

In  Cienfuegos  I  ran  across  the  agents  of  an  American 
enterprise  that  planned  to  make  money  out  of  invest- 
ments in  Cuba,  Puerto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines.  The 
prospectus  was  flowery,  and  the  agents  were  energetic. 
They  told  me  that  they  had  secured  control  of  the  tele- 
phone system  in  Cienfuegos,  and  that  they  hoped  to  get 
hold  of  some  valuable  concessions.  The  city  was  sorely 
in  need  of  a  modern  water  system,  and  the  contract  of 
installing  and  operating  one  was  another  of  the  enter- 
prises they  hoped  to  secure.  They  had  also  taken  steps 
to  install  a  water  plant  in  Santa  Clara,  but  the  amend- 
ment to  the  Army  bill,  passed  just  before  Congress  ad- 
journed, forbidding  the  United  States  authorities  to 
grant  concessions  of  this  nature,  probably  put  a  stop  to 
the  prosecution  of  these  enterprises.  I  remember  that 
in  Santa  Clara  I  met  an  American  who  was  in  consulta- 
tion with  a  resident  of  that  city.  The  Cuban  held  in  his 
hand  what  appeared  to  be  a  piece  of  coal.  He  lighted  a 
match  and  applied  the  flame  to  the  black  substance,  and 
it  gave  out  a  series  of  sparks.  I  asked  what  it  was,  and 
was  told  that  it  was  asphalt,  and  that  the  American  had 
arrived  there  to  secure  an  option  on  the  deposit. 

The  clause  in  the  Army  bill  to  which  I  have  referred 
reads  : 

216 


AMERICANS    IN    CUBA 

And  provided  further,  That  no  business  franchises  or  conces- 
sions of  any  kind  whatever  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States, 
or  by  any  military  or  other  authority  whatever,  in  the  island  of 
Cuba  during  the  occupation  thereofby  the  United  States. 

It  is  a  constitutional  question  whether  Congress  has 
the  right  to  hamper  the  executive  power  in  its  military 
operations  in  a  foreign  land  by  such  a  clause,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  such  a  provision  in  the  law  in  no 
way  interfered  with  the  right  of  purchase  by  Americans 
of  property  rights  from  owners.  Even  if  the  prohibi- 
tion as  to  franchises  and  concessions  were  to  be  con- 
strued literally,  it  probably  could  not  be  made  to  apply 
to  the  furthering  of  plans  to  improve  the  health  con- 
ditions of  the  cities.  There  was  no  doubt  that  the 
clause  in  the  Army  bill  gave  a  chill  to  many  of  the 
Americans  who  were  as  busy  as  bees  trying  to  secure 
options  of  various  kinds  for  future  sale.  Some  of  these 
options  were  described  to  me  as  "options  on  air,"  but 
there  was  no  doubt  that  a  lot  of  men  were  running 
around  after  them.  Street  -  paving  contractors  were 
thick.  "There's  going  to  be  a  lot  of  that  kind  of  work," 
one  of  them  told  me,  "  and  I  guess  we  can  get  the  con- 
tracts in  such  a  tangle  that  we  shall  all  get  a  bite  of  the 
cherry." 

Many  men  in  Havana  looking  for  business  openings 
seemed  to  be  inspired  by  over-zealousness.  I  remember 
one  man  who  was  always  on  the  jump,  and  who  was 
continually  working  over  a  lot  of  figures  whenever  he 
sat  down.  I  was  told  that  he  was  from  Michigan,  and 
that  he  wanted  to  introduce  Grand  Rapids  furniture  in 
the   island.      Any   one   who   studied   the   ways    of   the 

219 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Cuban  people,  and  observed  how  devoted  they  are  to 
the  four  rocking-chairs  that  face  four  other  rocking- 
chairs  across  a  rug  in  the  parlor  of  every  home,  could 
see  what  a  difficult  task  that  American  agent  had.  The 
Cubans  get  mahogany  for  their  furniture,  and  the  pieces 
are  of  a  most  solid  and  substantial  nature.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  plush  or  velvet  in  common  use  on  furni- 
ture, and  the  American  agent  was  somewhat  discour- 
aged towards  the  end  of  his  stay.  There  were  climatic 
influences  of  a  forbidding  nature  against  the  introduc- 
tion of  ordinary  American  furniture. 

I  remember  meeting  two  men  in  Pinar  del  Rio  who 
were  looking  for  good  grazing  land,  so  as  to  go  into  the 
cattle  business.  They  took  mules  and  went  over  the 
mountain  range  to  the  north.  A  few  days  later  I  ran 
across  one  of  them  in  Matanzas  province.  The  Pinar 
del  Rio  hunt  had  been  without  profit,  but,  to  his  amaze- 
ment, he  found  beautiful  grass  much  closer  to  Havana, 
and  in  such  quantities  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  cat- 
tle could  be  fed  there.  Then  there  were  the  men  looking 
for  chances  to  grow  fruits  ;  the  men  who  had  agricultural 
machinery  to  sell ;  the  men  who  had  come  from  Louisi- 
ana to  restore  the  sugar-mills  that  had  been  destroyed  in 
the  war  ;  the  men  who  wanted  to  buy  or  to  sell  lumber, 
as  the  case  might  be ;  and  lots  of  other  men  on  practical 
or  impracticable  errands. 

There  were  two  discouraging  features,  however,  for 
most  of  those  who  were  in  earnest  in  seeking  invest- 
ments. The  Cubans  were  holding  property  and  other 
purchasable  things  at  rates  that  were  too  high,  and  the 
unsettled  conditions  as  to  the  future  government  of  the 

220 


AMERICANS    IN    CUBA 

island  made  investors  wary.  For  these  reasons  I  could 
not  learn  that  there  were  many  new  enterprises  which 
the  Americans  had  taken  hold  of,  and  it  was  altogether 
likely  that  what  new  business  they  had  engaged  in  was 
simply  the  buying  and  selling  that  grew  from  the  or- 
dinary law  of  supply  and  demand  in  commerce.  The 
Cubans  are  extremely  keen  and  clever  bargainers.  They 
expected  a  horde  of  American  capitalists  as  soon  as  the 
war  was  over,  and  they  were  prepared  for  them.  Real 
estate,  especially  tobacco  -  producing  tracts,  went  up  to 
double  the  prices  that  were  quoted  before  the  war  ;  and 
so,  with  the  clause  in  the  Army  bill,  the  high  prices  for 
everything  of  real  value,  and  the  unsettled  problem  of 
the  future  of  the  country,  hundreds  and  probably  thou- 
sands of  Americans  who  went  to  the  island  in  the  hope 
of  securing  such  riches  as  generally  come  with  the  up- 
building of  a  country  made  desolate  by  war,  went  home 
disappointed  and  discouraged. 

There  was  one  kind  of  American  visitor  to  the  island, 
however,,  concerning  the  beneficial  effects  of  whose  mis- 
sion there  could  be  no  doubt.  He  was  the  practical  mis- 
sionary, who  not  only  held  religious  exercises,  but  estab- 
lished schools.  I  met  one  of  these  men  in  Santa  Clara. 
He  was  a  Rev.  Dr.  Powell,  secretary  of  a  college  in  Ten- 
nessee, and  he  had  been  sent  to  Cuba  on  what  might  be 
called  a  scouting  trip  for  the  Southern  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Society.  He  had  formerly  been  a  missionary  in 
Mexico,  and  he  spoke  Spanish  fluently.  Before  the 
Spanish  forces  evacuated  Santa  Clara  there  were  twen- 
ty-two priests  in  the  city.  After  they  had  gone  only 
two  priests  remained.     The  people  were  practically  with- 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

out  religious  instruction,  and  the  children  were  clamor- 
ing for  schools  and  school  -  books.  In  three  days  Dr. 
Powell  had  congregations  of  from  six  hundred  to  eight 
hundred  at  his  preaching  services.  The  people  were 
actually  turned  away.  But  what  impressed  me  more 
was  to  see  the  children  flocking  to  his  hotel  to  be  en- 
rolled in  the  school  he  arranged  to  open.  They  came 
singly  and  in  twos  and  threes,  and  frequently  the  moth- 
ers came  along,  and,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  thanked 
the  missionary  for  opening  a  school.  Dr.  Powell  was  not 
the  only  man  in  Cuba  on  such  a  mission,  and  it  is  pleas- 
ant to  record  that  invariably  their  efforts  to  establish 
schools  were  meeting  with  success. 


CHAPTER  X 

CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

WHEN  one  wishes  to  leave  Havana  by  rail  to 
see  something  of  the  real  Cuba — say,  to  take 
a  trip  to  Pinar  del  Rio  or  to  Cienfuegos — he 
must  get  up  very  early.  The  through  trains  leave  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  I  asked  a  high  official  of 
the  railroad  to  Pinar  del  Rio  why  so  early  a  start  was 
made  for  a  town  only  109  miles  away,  and  he  said  it  was 
so  as  to  get  back  the  same  day.  That  sounds  ludicrous, 
but  when  one  went  over  the  road  and  learned  something 
of  the  hardships  involved  to  keep  the  road  in  running 
order  in  the  last  four  years — a  struggle  against  men 
with  torches,  who  burned  down  stations ;  against  men 
with  crowbars,  who  tore  up  mile  after  mile  of  rails  and 
twisted  them  out  of  shape  or  hid  them ;  against  armed 
bands  of  revolutionists,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion 
with  Maceo's  army  of  several  thousand  men,  the  rail- 
road officials  shooting  from  armored  cars ;  against  dyna- 
mite explosions,  and  the  practical  loss  of  all  revenue, 
with  continued  confiscations  and  taxation  and  reprisals 
by  the  Spanish  authorities — one  wondered  how  the  trains, 
only  a  few  weeks  after  the  war  closed,  managed  to  start 
out  at  all,  to  say  nothing  of  coming  back. 

223 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

The  American  traveller  is  not  only  likely  to  grumble 
when  he  is  compelled  to  hurry  to  the  station  in  the  thick 
gloom  of  the  early  morning,  but  when  he  reaches  the 
station  and  finds  that  he  must  pay  about  five  cents  a 
mile  in  gold,  and  from  seven  to  eight  cents  a  mile  in 
Spanish  silver,  to  ride  in  the  back-breaking  cars  known 
as  first-class  carriages,  and  that  for  an  ordinary  trunk  he 
must  pay  about  half  fare,  he  is  inclined  to  scoff  at  the 
primitive  mode  of  travel,  and  to  long  for  the  luxury  of 
even  stage-coach  journeying  on  a  Western  mountain- 
road.  The  amazing  amount  of  computation  by  the 
ticket-agent  before  he  sells  a  ticket,  the  smoky  lamps, 
the  three  preliminary  tootings  by  the  engine  before  the 
train  starts,  the  final  ringing  of  a  bell  by  the  baggage- 
master  as  a  signal  that  the  train  really  is  going,  the 
crowded  condition  of  the  aisles,  choked  with  luggage  for 
which  the  passengers  do  not  care  to  pay  toll,  and  every 
man  in  the  train,  from  the  conductor  down  to  the  bare- 
footed brakemen,  smoking  tobacco  of  varying  degrees  of 
excellence  —  all  this  is  likely  to  weary  the  American 
traveller  used  to  the  luxury  -ot  Pullman-cars.  One  was 
inclined  at  the  very  outset  to  rail  at  the  crudities  of 
travel  by  cars  in  the  island  of  Cuba. 

And  yet  such  travel  was  not  really  disagreeable.  I 
have  ridden  on  worse  road-beds  and  in  cars  almost  as 
uncomfortable  within  150  miles  of  New  York  City,  and 
it  maybe  said  with  truth  that  the  road-beds  of  the 
Cuban  railroads  only  a  short  time  after  a  devastating 
war,  in  which  they  were  continual  sufferers,  were  in 
much  better  condition  than  the  average  Southern  rail- 
road was  in  our  own  country  ten  years  ago.     I  had  the 

224 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

pleasure  of  travelling  several  hundred  miles  in  Cuba 
with  Mr.  W.  F.  Allen,  the  editor  of  the  Travellers'  Offi- 
cial Railroad  Guide,  an  authority  in  the  matter,  and 
here  is  what  he  wrote  on  the  subject  of  Cuban  railroads 
after  his  return  : 

The  railways  are  not  far  behind  the  times,  when  the  con- 
ditions by  which  they  have  been  surrounded  and  the  traffic  they 
have  to  provide  for  are  carefully  considered.  The  right  of  way 
is  fenced — if  that  is  the  proper  term  to  use  for  cactus  hedges  or 
stone  walls.  The  cactus  hedge  is  admirable  for  the  purpose,  be- 
ing almost  impenetrable,  and  unpleasant  to  surmount.  The 
roads  are  laid  with  steel  rails,  from  fifty  to  sixty-two  pounds  to 
the  yard,  joined  with  fish-plates,  with  rock  ballast,  and  general- 
ly well  tied  and  surfaced.  Some  of  the  switches  are  of  the  stub 
variety,  but  split  switches  are  also  in  use.  The  couplings  are  of 
the  old-fashioned  link  and  pin  style,  but  automatic  couplers  are 
being  introduced.  The  passenger-trains  are  equipped  with  air- 
brakes. Freight -cars  are  of  smaller  dimensions  than  cars  re- 
cently built  in  the  United  States,  and  more  like  those  of  thirty 
years  ago.  Permanent  tops  are  used,  not  the  tarpaulin  covers 
employed  on  English  goods-wagons. 

The  ticket-agent  does  not  have  an  enviable  time  in  making 
change.  He  now  has  three  currencies  to  deal  with — viz.,  Amer- 
ican money,  Spanish  gold,  and  Spanish  silver.  The  Spanish 
peso,  or  dollar,  is  nominally  the  same  as  our  dollar,  but  actually 
is  quite  different.  An  American  dollar  is  worth  about  $i  07  in 
Spanish  gold  and  about  $1  66  in  Spanish  silver  at  the  published 
rates.  These  rates  are  regulated  in  part  by  the  government 
terms  of  exchange  at  the  Post-office  and  Custom-house.  The 
actual  weight  of  the  gold  and  the  current  value  of  silver,  which 
varies  from  day  to  day,  affects  the  rate  of  exchange,  which  is  an- 
nounced in  the  daily  papers. 

I  have  rarely  had  a  more  enjoyable  railroad  trip  than 
227 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  one  I  took  one  morning  in  February  to  Pinar  del 
Rio.  The  cactus  hedges  ;  the  absence  of  dust ;  the  first 
glimpses  of  a  rolling  landscape  with  the  splendid  royal 
palms,  now  marking  a  watercourse  or  road  and  now 
grouped  by  the  hundreds  in  some  old  grove;  the  red, 
black,  and  gray  soils ;  the  return  of  the  people  to  agri- 
cultural pursuits  near  the  towns ;  the  waste  places  over- 
grown with  weeds ;  the  cattle  roaming  about,  at  last  in 
peace  ;  the  crude  viaducts  bringing  water  to  tobacco 
tracts;  the  enlarged  graveyards  ;  the  ruins  of  stations; 
the  block-houses  at  almost  every  mile  of  the  journey; 
the  ragged  and  half  -  starved  people  ;  the  beggars  at 
every  stopping-place  ;  the  Cuban  soldiers  doing  police 
duty  at  all  stations ;  the  passengers,  from  the  German 
planter,  lugging  out  great  bags  of  silver  to  pay  his 
plantation  hands,  and  the  officers  of  the  American  army 
going  out  to  new  duties,  to  the  pinched-faced  widows 
going  back  to  what  was  once  home ;  the  thatch-roofed 
villages,  where  thousands  of  reconcentrados  starved ;  a 
beautiful  range  of  mountains  running  along  the  coast 
from  east  to  west,  protecting  the  famous  Vuelta  Abajo 
tobacco  district  from  harsh  winds,  and  resembling  in 
their  contours  the  Catskills,  but  only  about  one-half  as 
high — all  these  made  every  rod  of  the  journey  interest- 
ing and  picturesque.  The  first-class  car  on  the  train 
had  seats  with  cane  bottoms  and  backs — necessary  be- 
cause of  climatic  conditions — and  one  soon  forgot  to 
look  at  the  sickening  greenish-yellow  decorations  of  the 
car  and  to  notice  the  small  windows  with  sliding  blinds 
to  keep  out  the  glare  of  the  sun  and  the  heat.  When 
one  had  a  guide  to  point  out  places  of  interest  along  the 

228 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

route,  the  irregularities  of  the  road-bed  and  the  half- 
cleaned  condition  of  the  cars  were  forgotten  entirely. 

On  the  train  that  morning  I  had  the  good  fortune  to 
meet  Mr.  Alfred  P.  Livesey,  the  resident  engineer  of  this 
railroad,  which  is  known  officially  as  the  Western  Rail- 
way of  Habana  (limited),  and  during  the  war  its  real 
superintendent.  He  is  a  young  Englishman.  The  road 
is  owned  by  English  capitalists,  but,  with  a  protracted 
strike  and  the  war  with  which  to  contend  on  the  one 
hand  and  Spanish  extortion  on  the  other,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  no  dividends  have  been  paid  for  seven  years. 
The  story  that  Mr.  Livesey  told  of  the  tribulations  of 
the  road  is  practically  a  duplicate  of  the  experiences  on 
other  railroads  in  Cuba  before  and  during  the  war,  and 
explains  why  excessive  rates  for  freight  and  transporta- 
tion are  charged,  and  why  the  systems  are  in  a  crude 
condition.  Mr.  Livesey  said  that  the  import  duties  on  a 
locomotive  during  Spanish  rule  were  almost  $5000,  and 
that  coal  cost  nearly  $6  a  ton  ;  taxation  rates  were  enor- 
mous, and  Spanish  extortion  was  such  that  it  was  al- 
most a  wonder  that  a  railroad  could  do  any  business 
at  all. 

In  the  western  part  of  the  island  during  the  war  An- 
tonio Maceo  and  his  men  operated.  They  burned  towns 
and  destroyed  plantations  and  roamed  apparently  at  will 
even  to  within  a  few  miles  of  Havana.  Their  stronghold 
in  the  mountains  was  never  attacked.  They  tore  up  the 
tracks  of  the  railroad  week  after  week  ;  and  yet  the  com- 
pany, under  the  constant  supervision  of  Mr.  Livesey, 
managed  to  operate  about  sixty  miles  of  the  road  all  the 
time,  in  a  hit-or-miss  fashion.     Three  locomotives  and 

229 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

sixty  cars  of  the  small  equipment  necessary  to  such  a 
short  line  were  destroyed,  nine  out  of  fewer  than  thirty 
stations  were  burned,  mile  after  mile  of  rails  was  carried 
off,  and  yet  the  road  would  not  give  up.  No  thorough 
track-work  could  be  done,  and  all  paying  traffic  ceased. 


CIVIL    PRISONERS   MADE   TO    WORK    ON   THE   STREETS   OF   PINAR   DEL   RIO 


Mr.  Livesey  built  what  he  called  "  armored  wagons," 
thirteen  of  them,  at  a  cost  in  placing  the  crude  iron 
plates  and  strips  about  them  of  about  $500  each.  The 
iron  protection,  consisting  of  any  kind  of  scraps,  weighed 
about  3000  pounds  to  the  car.  In  all,  180  armed  men 
were  employed  on  these  trains,  and  usually  there  were 
forty  men  to  a  train.     They  were  sent  out  daily  to  repair 

230 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

bridges  and  culverts,  to  find  stolen  rails  and  replace 
them. 

On  one  occasion  one  of  these  trains  was  out  two  weeks. 
The  rails  had  been  taken  up  behind  it,  and  the  crew  near- 
ly starved.  Day  and  night  the  men  shot  at  revolution- 
ists from  their  cars.  One  day,  just  beyond  the  town  of 
Artemesia,  forty  -  four  miles  from  Havana,  they  met 
Maceo  and  5000  men.  The  advance-guard  of  the  insur- 
gents attacked  the  train.  No  one  was  killed  on  the 
train,  but  the  railroad  men  killed  eight  of  the  insurgents 
and  captured  nine  of  their  horses.  On  another  occasion 
a  train  trying  to  get  back  to  Havana  found  a  gap  of  200 
feet  in  the  road  -  bed  without  rails.  All  the  rails  from 
the  sidings  and  from  branch  roads  running  to  sugar- 
plantations  had  been  taken  up  and  used  in  the  effort  to 
get  home,  and  no  more  could  be  found.  It  became  nec- 
essary to  take  up  the  rails  from  behind  the  train  to  piece 
out  the  gap. 

Mr.  Livesey  told  me  that  on  his  various  trips  he  had 
seen  the  bodies  of  fully  one  hundred  men  "hanged  like 
dogs  on  little  shrubs  "  in  the  cruel  warfare  practised  in 
that  region.  These  fatalities  represented  raids  at  night 
on  plantations  or  into  small  villages.  The  stories  he  told 
of  the  people  starving  in  the  larger  towns  were  too  hor- 
rible for  comfortable  reading.  He  said  to  me  that  in  the 
town  of  San  Cristobal,  one  of  the  largest  on  the  way  to 
Pinar  del  Rio,  a  little  over  sixty  miles  from  Havana, 
more  than  6000  persons  had  died  during  the  war.  The 
normal  population  of  the  place  is  about  5000.  It  was  at 
Candelaria,  one  station  before  San  Cristobal  is  reached, 
that  General  Weyler  went  out  to  find  Maceo  and  to  capt- 

231 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

ure  and  destroy  him.  This,  in  popular  language,  was 
one  of  the  few  military  grand-stand  plays  that  Weyler 
made.  He  was  to  come  back  to  Havana  a  conquering 
hero ;  and  Antonio  Maceo,  dead  or  alive,  was  to  come 
back  with  him.  He  came  back,  but  Maceo  remained  in 
the  mountains.  The  Spanish  troops  experienced  a  fright- 
ful mortality,  and  one  day  Mr.  Livesey  superintended 
the  removal  of  2500  sick  soldiers  to  Havana.  It  required 
six  special  trains.  Near  by,  and  almost  visible  from  the 
railroad  station,  was  the  mountain  stronghold  of  Maceo, 
Cacarajicara,  that  was  never  taken  by  the  Spaniards,  and 
the  Cuban  general  almost  enjoyed  seeing  with  his  own 
eyes  the  flight  of  Weyler  back  to  his  guarded  palace  in 
the  Cuban  metropolis. 

This  was  a  novel  kind  of  railroading  for  a  mild-man- 
nered gentleman  who  had  been  sent  from  England  to 
help  make  a  railroad  pay  ;  and  at  the  time  of  my  visit  he 
said  he  had  not  yet  got  over  the  surprise  of  receiving 
letters  occasionally  from  planters  saying  some  of  the  rails 
of  the  Western  Railroad  were  down  their  wells,  and  ask- 
ing him  to  please  send  a  force  to  pull  them  out,  for  the 
sake  of  improving  the  water,  if  for  nothing  else.  Labor 
was  scarce  in  the  island  at  that  time,  and  although  re- 
pairs were  being  made  to  the  road-bed  and  to  trestles  and 
bridges,  and  although  new  stations  were  being  erected  in 
the  places  of  those  that  were  burned,  it  was  slow  work 
putting  the  line  in  good  order.  No  one  rejoiced  more 
than  the  railroad  men  at  the  termination  of  the  war. 
The  excessive  Spanish  duties  on  rolling  -  stock  and  on 
rails,  and  the  killing  taxes  imposed  by  the  Spanish,  were 
at  an  end.     Mr.  Livesey  said  his  road  would  practically 

232 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

have  to  be  rebuilt.  He  contemplated  building  modern 
cars  in  Havana.  New  rails,  he  said,  would  be  laid,  and, 
under  the  peace  that  American  occupation  had  brought, 
he  hoped  soon  to  see  the  day  when  the  railroad  would  not 
only  be  in  first-class  condition  with  a  modern  plant,  but 
when  a  dividend  would  be  earned  and  freight  and  pas- 
senger rates  reduced  to  a  reasonable  figure.  Reduced 
freight  rates  will  mean  much  to  the  enormous  tobacco 
business  carried  on  in  the  western  end  of  the  island. 

For  a  little  distance  after  leaving  Havana  on  this  rail- 
road one  catches  glimpses  of  the  one  good  road  in  the 
island — a  yellow  thread  that  winds  about  in  the  rough 
green  carpet  covering  the  flat  country.  There  are  knolls 
here  and  there,  and,  except  for  the  palms  and  strange 
people  and  houses,  one  might  fancy  himself  in  central 
Ohio,  so  far  as  the  country  is  concerned.  Track  laborers 
could  be  seen  occasionally,  and  when  one  of  the  passen- 
gers saw  a  solitary  ploughman  out  in  the  deserted  coun- 
try there  was  a  crowding  to  windows  to  catch  a  look  at 
such  a  curiosity.  The  first  block-house  along  the  road 
attracted  general  attention,  and  there  was  a  sense  of  sat- 
isfaction in  seeing  that  it  was  being  dismantled.  Alto- 
gether there  were  no  less  than  seventy-five  of  these  block- 
houses along  the  road  to  protect  its  bridges  and  trestles 
and  rails,  but  Mr.  Livesey  told  me  that  they  were  "utterly 
useless."  The  region  a  few  miles  out  of  Havana  was  so 
deserted  that  when  a  buzzard  began  a  race  with  the  train 
there  was  a  general  exclamation  of  pleasure  that  there 
was  at  least  something  alive  in  the  region.  We  passed 
over  several  substantial  bridges  and  culverts,  and  the  eye 
roamed  across  the  country  in  vain  to  find  the  people  at 

233 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

work,  in  as  fertile  a  region  as  probably  can  be  found  any- 
where, but  there  were  only  shrubs  and  weeds  and  grass 
to  be  seen.  Morning-glories  along  the  track  seemed  curi- 
ous in  a  region  that  had  been  devastated. 

When  the  first  village  was  reached,  one  saw  that  truly 
Havana  and  the  other  large  cities  of  the  island  were  not 
representative  dwelling-places  of  the  Cubans.  In  a  vil- 
lage of  perhaps  one  thousand  inhabitants  probably  not 
more  than  half  a  dozen  buildings  would  be  of  stone.  The 
rest  were  mere  huts  of  palm  leaves  or  boards  with  thatched 
roofs,  and  all  arranged  in  rows  for  streets.  Naked 
children  swarmed  out  of  the  huts,  and  women  in  black 
came  to  the  openings  called  doors,  and  they  gave  the 
Cuban  salute  which  corresponds  to  our  waving  of  the 
hand.  They  raised  a  hand  with  the  palm  towards  the 
train,  and  opened  and  shut  their  fingers  in  a  rapid  move- 
ment. The  red  tiles  on  some  of  the  huts  in  place  of  the 
thatched  roofs  added  picturesqueness  to  the  village.  We 
stopped  long  enough  to  be  overwhelmed  by  begging  chil- 
dren, and  then  the  ting-a-ling  of  the  baggage-master's 
bell  was  heard,  and  off  we  went,  to  a  general  salute  from 
the  town. 

A  dozen  miles  out  of  Havana  one  may  see,  off  towards 
the  north,  the  curious  geological  formation  of  the  only 
hill  or  mountain  thereabouts.  It  is  the  Hill  of  the  Jesuits, 
on  which  the  famous  Catalan  Club  was  situated.  It  looks 
to  the  traveller  like  Snake  Hill,  on  the  New  Jersey  mead- 
ows back  of  Hoboken,  only  it  seems  three  times  as  long 
and  half  again  as  high.  It  is  a  beautiful  place,  and  a 
landmark  for  a  score  of  miles  around.  It  was  near  this 
hill  that  Antonio  Maceo  lost  his  life.      Not  until  one 

234 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

reaches  Candelaria,  fifty-seven  miles  from  Havana,  does 
he  see  the  chief  topographical  glory  of  the  province  of 
Pinar  del  Rio.  It  is  the  beautiful  mountain  range  that 
runs  parallel  with  the  northern  coast  to  the  western  end 
of  the  island.  The  rugged  slopes  and  thick  growth  of 
timber  on  the  peaks,  with  here  and  there  a  cliff  hundreds 
of  feet  high,  and  almost  no  broad  passes,  make  the  range 
almost  impregnable.  It  seems  as  if  a  hundred  thousand 
men  might  hide  in  its  recesses  with  comfort  and  safety. 


TOWN    MILKMAN    IN    I'INAR    DHL    RIO 


Deer  are  said  to  be  plenty  there,  and  so  long  as  Maceo 
remained  in  these  mountains  he  was  in  no  more  danger 
from  roving  Spaniards  than  he  was  from  the  shadows 
that  chased  up  and  down  the  beautiful  flanks  of  the  range. 
At  every  station  there  was  something  novel  to  be  seen. 
At  San  Cristobal  we  saw  where  the  water-works  of  the 
town  had  been  blown  to  pieces  by  a  dynamite  bomb 
placed  in  the  roof.  Some  of  the  machinery  had  been 
forced  four  feet  into  the  ground  by  the  explosion.  As 
we  left  the  station  we  ran  by  the   small  -  pox  hospital 

235 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

of  the  place.  It  was  close  to  the  town  and  very  dirty. 
A  man  stood  in  the  doorway,  and  it  was  to  be  presumed 
that  he  was  immune  to  the  germs  that  must  have  been 
thick  about  the  place.  At  Palacios,  eighty  miles  from 
Havana,  we  found  the  railroad  company  putting  in  a  fine 
new  trestle  about  three  hundred  feet  long,  to  take  the 
place  of  one  not  destroyed,  as  we  thought  at  first,  by  the 
insurgents,  but  by  a  disastrous  flood  in  1896.  There  had 
been  no  opportunity  up  to  this  time  to  make  the  repairs. 
After  we  left  Palacios  we  found  the  country  open  and 
flat,  with  the  frowning  mountain  range  running  parallel 
to  our  course,  but  from  five  to  ten  miles  away.  The 
smoke  of  the  charcoal-burners  arose  in  black  shafts,  and 
made  one  think  of  the  burnings  of  towns  and  villages  in 
the  war-time.  Palacios  itself  was  burned  twice  during 
the  war,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  roof  left  in  the  place. 
The  town  was  new  so  far  as  the  buildings  were  con- 
cerned, and  doubtless  this  fact  added  to  its  healthful- 
ness.  Little  patches  of  tobacco  under  cultivation  were 
now  numerous,  and  the  palms  took  on  a  new  shape. 
They  were  of  the  kind  known  popularly  as  "  belly-palms." 
Half  or  two-thirds  up  the  slender  trunk  they  swelled  out 
and  resembled  the  condition  of  the  bodies  of  the  starv- 
ing children  during  the  reconcentrado  period.  Many  of 
them  had  been  felled,  and  as  they  lay  they  looked  like 
the  swollen  bodies  of  some  animal  partly  hidden  in  the 
weeds. 

Twenty  miles  from  Pinar  del  Rio  we  emerged  into  a 
beautiful  open  country — the  best  part  of  the  Vuelta 
Abajo  district.  Tobacco-plantations  under  a  high  state 
of  cultivation  came  into  view.     The  leaves  of  the  plants 

236 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

were  so  strong  and  large  and  so  rich  in  the  beautiful 
deep  green  color  that  one  felt  that  Cuba  was  becoming 
itself  again.  Here  was  the  beginning  of  the  return  of 
prosperity,  and  the  land  was  smiling.  Finally,  through  a 
landscape  dotted  with  palms  irregularly  and  huts  scat- 
tered about  promiscuously,  as  if  on  some  Western  prairie 
beginning  to  fill  up  rapidly,  we  saw  the  outskirts  of  Pinar 
del  Rio,  and  then  its  cathedral  and  its  fine  military  hos- 
pital standing  out  above  the  other  buildings  conspicu- 
ously. We  stopped  at  a  comfortable  and  large  railroad 
station,  and  soon  were  whirling  through  the  rough  streets 
and  up  a  hill,  past  substantial  buildings,  to  the  centre  of 
the  town. 

Here  we  were  at  last  in  real  Cuban  life,  far  from  Ha- 
vana and  the  coast.  The  buildings  were  one -storied 
affairs  with  barred  windows.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
place  was  one  of  indolence,  and  the  nervous  activity  of 
Havana  was  absent.  Block-houses  encircled  the  town  of 
perhaps  seven  thousand  inhabitants,  but  they  were  occu- 
pied by  families  of  reconcentrados.  Sentinels  of  the 
American  regular  army  marched  up  and  down  the  streets, 
doing  police  duty  in  the  absence  of  any  regular  police 
force  of  the  town.  The  shops  were  empty,  and  tracts  of 
tobacco  were  seen  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  town.  The 
place  had  a  rural  aspect,  and  the  acres  upon  acres  of  to- 
bacco showed  that  in  a  few  weeks  at  least  prosperity  of 
a  limited  kind  was  to  return  to  the  place.  It  did  one's 
eyes  good  to  see  the  city,  probably  the  only  place  in 
Cuba  at  that  time  where  there  was  evidence  of  a  swift 
and  sure  return  to  the  conditions  that  were  almost 
normal. 

239 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

There  are  few  cities  in  Cuba  more  beautifully  situated 
than  Pinar  del  Rio.  It  is  on  the  side  of  a  gently  sloping 
hill,  with  a  range  of  mountains  three  miles  away  that 
give  a  rugged  and  picturesque  background  to  it.  The 
scenes  in  the  town  were  distinctively  Cuban.  Men  were 
busy  playing  the  gambling  game  of  the  island — domi- 
nos — in  the  cafes.  At  night  there  was  an  open-air  bowl- 
ing game  going  on  in  a  space  near  the  post-office  ;  long 
trains  of  mules,  tied  nose  to  tail,  brought  in  bananas  and 
wood  and  vegetables  from  almost  inaccessible  plantations 
among  and  beyond  the  mountain  range  ;  the  town  milk- 
men drove  their  cows  and  goats  from  door  to  door,  and 
gave  their  patrons  their  choice  of  the  kind  of  milk  sup- 
plied fresh  at  one's  door ;  the  boys  were  playing  baseball 
in  the  streets  and  on  vacant  lots,  and  using  American 
words  in  the  game;  double  -  teamed  American  army 
wagons  were  rumbling  through  the  town  to  the  camp 
of  the  regulars  out  on  the  plain  a  mile  and  a  half  away  ; 
and  the  widows  that  came  out  at  sunset  told  a  story  of 
the  meaning  of  war  in  that  region. 

Our  military  governor  of  Pinar  del  Rio  at  that  time 
was  Brigadier-General  George  W.  Davis,  who  has  since 
been  assigned  to  the  command  of  Puerto  Rico.  A 
few  minutes'  conversation  showed  that  General  Davis 
was  no  ordinary  man.  He  is  blunt  and  direct,  kindly 
but  firm,  and  entirely  devoid  of  any  suggestion  of  vanity 
or  pomp.  Out  West  they  would  say  he  has  plenty  of 
"  horse-sense."  With  perhaps  one  or  two  exceptions  he 
had  done  the  best  work  in  Cuba,  and  it  had  attracted  lit- 
tle attention.  He  had  made  a  tour  through  the  larger 
part  of  his  province,  knew  the  military  and  political  situ- 

240 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

ation  thoroughly,  had  gathered  information  of  great  use 
to  this  government,  had  used  great  tact  and  patience 
with  the  Cubans,  had  encouraged  them  to  peaceful  pur- 
suits, and  had  impressed  upon  them,  by  his  clever  execu- 
tive ability,  that  the  Americans  were  really  honest  and 
true  friends  of  the  Cuban  people.  He  had  not  upset  the 
normal  functions  of  government,  and  he  told  me  that  he 


COUNTRY   NEAR    PINAR    DEL   RIO— AMERICAN   MILITARY   CAMP    IN 
THE   DISTANCE 

had  had  the  fullest  co-operation  of  the  citizens  in  his'work. 
He  was  deservedly  popular,  and  the  day  that  he  left,  hav- 
ing been  summoned  to  Washington,  the  railroad  station 
was  thronged,  and  there  was  a  suspicious  moistening  in 
many  eyes  at  the  thought  that  he  might  not  come  back. 
I  was  surprised  to  find  that  not  only  was  General  Davis 
a  good  military  man  (that  was  to  be  expected)  and  a 
Q  241 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

good  civil  administrator,  but  that  he  was  something  of  a 
student,  not  only  of  governmental  questions,  but  of  nat- 
ural history.  I  remember  that,  coming  down  to  Havana 
with  him  on  the  day  he  left  Pinar  del  Rio,  he  pointed 
out  various  botanical  specimens.  He  seemed  to  know 
all  about  the  trees  and  shrubs  and  grasses  and  flowers. 
He  talked  also  about  the  animal  life  of  Cuba,  not  as  one 
who  had  heard  certain  interesting  things,  but  as  one  who 
had  studied  them.  He  discussed  governmental  problems 
and  theories — not  for  publication,  of  course,  but  I  am  sure 
he  will  not  object  if  I  use  his  words  on  one  topic.  He 
pointed  out  a  peasant's  hut  with  its  thatched  roof  and 
palm-leaf  sides,  its  ragged  and  naked  children,  its  two 
pigs  tied  by  their  legs  close  to  the  one  door  of  the  hovel, 
its  dog,  and  its  owner  sitting  on  a  bench  smoking  a  pipe 
at  his  resting-time  in  the  middle  of  the  day.  The  peasant 
was  little  more  than  a  mere  animal.  He  knew  nothing, 
of  course,  and  cared  for  little  except  to  be  let  alone  in 
peace.  Since  the  American  soldiers  had  come  he  had 
learned  that  there  were  other  countries  in  the  world 
besides  Spain  and  Cuba,  but  that  was  all.  Pointing  to 
him,  General  Davis  said  : 

"  If  annexation  is  to  be  the  outcome  of  all  this  trouble, 
there  is  the  man  whom  we  must  make  an  American  citi- 
zen.    Can  we  do  it?" 

General  Davis  did  not  answer  the  question  himself, 
and  the  way  he  put  it  indicated  that  it  needed  no  an- 
swer in  his  mind.  I  do  not  know  his  real  sentiments  on 
the  matter,  but  I  was  repeating  his  remark  to  another 
general  of  high  rank,  also  a  military  governor,  and,  with 
some  spirit,  that  general  said  to  me  ; 

242 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

"What  does  General  Davis  know  of  the  limitations  of 
American  citizenship,  and  who  shall  circumscribe  its 
bounds  ?" 

There  you  are,  and  rather  than  begin  a  controversy 
upon  a  delicate  question,  I  hasten  back  to  General  Da- 
vis.     Still  talking   about  the   man  who  lives  in  a  hut 


A    FIELD    OF   THE   FINEST   TOBACCO   IN    THE   WORLD, 
NEAR   PINAR   DEL  RIO 


in  Cuba,  and  who  cares  for  nothing  in  his  ignorance  but 
to  live  from  day  to  day,  he  said  : 

"  The  richness  of  this  region  almost  surpasses  belief. 
I  know  of  no  other  place  in  the  world  where  a  man  can 
prosper  with  so  little  effort  as  he  can  here.  Take  that 
man  out  there.  Give  him  a  hoe  and  a  machete,  and 
enough  beans  and  potatoes  to  last  for  three  months,  and 
by  cultivating  from  an  acre  to  two  acres  of  tobacco  he 

243 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

can  clear,  say,  $250  in  ninety  days,  having  started  with 
nothing  but  his  two  tools,  his  seed,  and  a  few  dollars' 
worth  of  food.  He  and  his  wife  may  have  not  more 
than  two  garments  apiece ;  his  children  may  have  no 
clothes  at  all.  With  his  machete  he  will  build  himself  a 
hut,  and  with  his  hoe  he  will  raise  tobacco,  and  in 
ninety  days  he  will  be  well  off.  In  two  years  he  can 
afford  to  hire  others  to  work  for  him,  and  in  three  years, 
if  he  so  chooses,  he  can  be  rich  for  a  man  in  his  station. 
Where  else  in  the  world  can  this  be  done  ?  I  say  that  it 
is  marvellous." 

Speaking  still  of  the  problems  involved  in  American 
occupation,  General  Davis  told  me  that  he  had  asked  a 
leading  member  of  the  bar  in  Pinar  del  Rio  if  he  knew 
what  the  right  of  habeas  corpus,  as  it  is  known  in  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States,  was.  The  lawyer  said  he 
did,  and  when  General  Davis  asked  him  to  define  it,  the 
lawyer  became  confused  and  went  to  pieces.  He  had 
no  conception  of  it  at  all,  though  a  very  bright  man. 
General  Davis  cited  this  to  me  to  show  that  only  the 
vaguest  ideas  were  held  by  the  most  intelligent  of  the 
masses  in  Cuba  as  to  what  free  government,  as  we  un- 
derstand it,  really  means.  He  paid  a  tribute  to  the 
thorough  and  efficient  work  done  by  Spanish  officials  in 
drawing  up  papers  for  official  preservation.  They  were 
always  complete,  he  said;  faultlessly  written  out,  and  a 
misspelled  word  was  a  curiosity.  As  I  have  said,  I  do 
not  know  General  Davis's  innermost  ideas  about  the 
future  of  Cuba,  but  I  think  I  am  warranted  in  saying 
that  those  of  the  administration  who  have  that  problem 
to  solve  would  do  well  to  summon  the  general  to  a  pro- 

244 


CONDITIONS    IN    PINAR    DEL    RIO 

tracted  conference,  for  he  has  opinions  on  the  subject 
of  value,  and  he  knows  how  to  tell  them. 

In  his  investigations  into  the  affairs  of  his  province 
General  Davis  found  that  two  censuses  had  been  taken 
in  recent  years.  One  was  in  1877,  and  the  other  in  1887. 
The  later  census  showed  that  there  were  about  220,000 
persons  in  the  province,  of  whom  about  60,000  were 
blacks. 

He  estimated  that  by  1896  there  must  have  been,  in 
the  normal  increase  of  the  population,  from  280,000  to 
300,000  persons  in  the  province.  Of  these,  judging  from 
the  examinations  of  various  places,  and  from  the  records 
kept,  he  thought  that  fully  150,000  persons  had  died  in 
the  province  during  the  war.  In  a  town  which  had 
9000  inhabitants  before  the  war,  there  were  in  January 
last  about  4000.  One  place  of  1600  people  before  the 
war,  had  only  250  early  in  1899.  Towns  of  5000  were 
reduced  to  from  1600  to  2000.  All  this  reduction  in 
population  meant  death  by  disease  and  famine  from  the 
effects  of  the  war.  In  the  city  of  Pinar  del  Rio,  Gen- 
eral Davis  said  he  had  records  of  the  deaths  of  5800  per- 
sons, giving  the  name,  age,  and  sex  of  each.  He  thought 
that  perhaps  2000  others  had  died  there,  reconcentrados 
who  had  been  driven  in  from  the  country. 

Such  was  Pinar  del  Rio  during  the  war  and  immedi- 
ately after.  As  early  as  February  its  entire  tobacco 
crop  had  been  sold,  and  there  was  money  in  active  cir- 
culation in  the  town. 


CHAPTER   XI 

CONDITIONS   IN    MATANZAS 

SO  much  interest  in  the  reconstruction  of  Cuba  cen- 
tred in  Havana  and  Santiago  that  little  was  heard 
from  Matanzas  in  the  early  days.  Events  of  much 
importance  occurred  there.  The  American  military  oc- 
cupation of  Matanzas  showed  most  pointedly  that  it  was 
possible  for  an  American  military  governor  to  be,  in  the 
truest  sense,  a  statesman  as  well  as  a  soldier.  The  ad- 
ministration of  General  James  H.  Wilson  in  that  prov- 
ince attracted  little  attention  in  the  United  States,  for 
the  reason  that  Havana  and  Santiago  were  the  news 
centres,  and  the  correspondents  in  the  island,  except  in 
a  few  cases,  were  not  brought  in  direct  contact  with  af- 
fairs in  Matanzas,  although  that  city  is  less  than  sixty 
miles  east  of  Havana.  The  truth  is  that  no  more  thor- 
ough, profitable,  energetic,  and  satisfactory  work  was 
done  in  our  military  occupation  of  Cuba  than  that  in  the 
province  of  Matanzas.  To  one  who  is  familiar  with  the 
facts  it  is  impossible  to  speak  of  General  Wilson's  work 
without  enthusiasm.  Most  delicate  tact  characterized 
all  his  labors,  and  the  result  was  that  in  Matanzas  and 
its  province  there  was  probably  less  friction  over  our 
management  of  affairs  than  in  any  other  district  of  Cuba. 

246 


GENERAL  JAMES   H.   WILSON 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

When  one  would  write  about  the  conditions  in  the  prov- 
ince he  must  necessarily  make  the  story  revolve  around 
James  H.  Wilson. 

General  Wilson  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  soldiers 
of  our  Civil  War.  After  he  left  the  army,  affairs  of  busi- 
ness, of  study,  of  diplomacy,  engaged  his  attention,  and 
as  a  result  he  became  one  of  the  best  equipped  men  of 
affairs,  in  an  all-around  sense,  in  the  country.  Extensive 
travel  brought  a  rare  polish  to  his  make-up,  and  contact 
with  men  in  every  degree  of  life  so  increased  his  horizon 
as  to  give  his  active  powers  of  observation  unusual  scope, 
and  to  develop  his  instincts  of  sympathy  and  justice  to  a 
rare  extent.  He  is  the  broadest  kind  of  a  man,  the  best 
type  of  an  American  civilian  and  an  American  soldier. 
He  made  American  military  occupation  of  Matanzas  pleas- 
ant, and  one  might  almost  say  delightful,  to  the  people. 
He  harmonized  jarring  interests.  He  brought  about  a 
condition  of  peace  among  the  people  themselves  that  they 
never  experienced  before,  and  it  was  easy  for  an  observer 
to  see  that  the  people  of  the  province  almost  idolized  him. 

Here  is  an  illustration  of  the  general's  way  of  doing 
things  :  When  the  Spaniards  left  the  province  the  Cu- 
bans came  to  him  and  asked  if  they  might  not  have  a 
celebration  in  honor  of  the  event.  Similar  requests  were 
refused  in  other  places. 

"  Certainly,"  said  General  Wilson.  "  Move  right  into 
town  and  have  a  three  days'  fiesta  if  you  wish.  Put  up 
your  flags  and  banners  and  have  your  parades  and 
dances,  and  when  you  get  through  I  will  order  out  my 
entire  complement  of  troops  to  show  you  what  American 
soldiers  are  like  and  to  pay  honor  to  you." 

249 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

And  the  Cubans  did  move  in.  They  decorated  their 
streets  with  massive  palms.  They  built  arches  in  half  a 
dozen  places  in  the  town.  They  strung  flags  and  ban- 
ners and  streamers  from  house  to  house  and  across 
streets.  They  made  the  town  look  like  a  fairy  abode. 
They  made  floats  symbolic  of  liberty  because  the  Ameri- 
cans had  come  and  because  they  were  free  from  Spain. 
They  paraded  and  danced  and  sang,  and  when  they  were 
tired  out,  and  the  feast  had  come  to  an  end,  General  Wil- 
son moved  his  troops  exactly  on  the  minute,  and  the 
populace  cheered  itself  hoarse  in  its  huzzas  for  the  United 
States  and  the  broad-gauged  man  who  represented  this 
country  among  them. 

Another  illustration  :  I  was  seated  in  General  Wilson's 
office,  one  day  in  February,  when  the  civil  governor  of 
the  province  came  in  to  tell  the  general  that  General 
Gomez  was  coming  to  town,  and  to  ask  what  should  be 
done  about  it.  I  shall  always  remember  General  Wilson's 
action  on  that  morning.  He  wheeled  around,  placed  his 
hand  on  the  governor's  shoulder,  his  eyes  bright  with  en- 
thusiasm, and  said  : 

"  So  the  old  gentleman  is  really  coming  ?  I  am  glad  to 
hear  it.  Now  make  him  comfortable.  Do  everything  you 
can  to  give  him  pleasure.  Turn  out  all  your  troops,  and 
find  out  what  he  would  like  to  have  us  do.  He  can  have 
any  kind  of  escort  he  wants.  If  he  wants  only  a  battalion, 
all  right  ;  if  he  wants  a  regiment,  he  shall  have  it ;  if  he 
would  like  to  have  our  entire  forces  turn  out,  we  will  do 
that.  He  can  have  anything  he  wants  in  that  line ;  and, 
by-the-way,  be  sure  to  say  that  we  will  take  any  place  in  the 
line  that  those  in  charge  of  the  reception  may  designate." 

250 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

That  governor  left  the  place  with  smiles,  and  his  eyes 
moistened.  Here  is  another  illustration — a  little  thing  : 
Every  night,  from  eight  to  nine  o'clock,  General  Wilson 
had  an  American  military  band  play  in  the  plaza  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people.  In  other  cities  the  military  bands 
played  once  or  twice  a  week;  in  Matanzas  it  was  every 
night.  If  an  American  would  like  to  feel  a  thrill  of 
patriotism  such  as  never  came  to  him  at  home,  one  of 
those  nightly  concerts  would  have  been  the  place.  It 
stirred  the  blood  to  hear  u  The  Star-spangled  Banner  " 
played  in  a  foreign  land,  with  the  odor  of  flowers  heavy 
in  the  air,  with  royal  palms  and  other  tropical  vegeta- 
tion for  a  background,  and  with  the  shouts  of  hundreds 
of  happy  children  who  had  just  escaped  an  awful  death 
of  starvation.  And  when  every  American — soldier  and 
civilian — rose  to  his  feet  and  uncovered,  it  was  thrilling 
to  see  hundreds  of  foreigners  do  the  same  with  rever- 
ence and  gratitude.  I  never  knew  what  "  The  Star- 
spangled  Banner"  meant  until  I  heard  one  of  General 
Wilson's  bands  play  it  at  night  on  the  public  square  in 
Matanzas.  Not  having  a  military  training,  I  had  lis- 
tened to  it  at  home  seated,  and  perhaps  with  my  hat  on, 
hundreds  of  times.  I  was  never  taught  as  a  boy  to  un- 
cover at  the  sound  of  its  strains,  but,  if  the  reader  will 
pardon  the  introduction  of  purely  personal  matters  into 
this  story,  I  should  like  to  say  that  hereafter  I  shall  always 
rise  and  uncover.  The  natives  of  Matanzas  taught  me  a 
lesson — one  that  I  wish  could  be  taught  to  every  Ameri- 
can citizen.  Our  schools  now  teach  that  hymn  faithfully 
in  their  singing  exercises ;  how  many  of  them  teach  the 
pupils  to  rise  as  they  sing  it  and  whenever  they  hear  it  ? 

253 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Let  me  bring  other  testimony  as  to  the  tact  and 
ability  of  General  Wilson.  Here  is  an  extract  from  an 
article  written  by  Mr.  W.  F.  Allen,  editor  of  the  Travel- 
lers" Official  Railway  Guide,  who  visited  Cardenas  in 
February : 

When  Cardenas  was  first  occupied  by  our  troops  there  were 
forty  prisoners  in  the  jail.  It  is  stated  that  General  Wilson  re- 
leased them  all,  with  a  warning  as  to  their  fate  if  caught  in  any 
unlawful  act.  For  a  month  after  that  there  was  not  a  single 
occupant  in  the  jail,  and  the  patriotic  inhabitants  of  the  city 
hoisted  a  flag  over  the  building  in  commemoration  of  the  fact. 

Every  correspondent  who  has  examined  into  the  man- 
agement of  affairs  in  Matanzas  province  has  had  the 
same  story  to  tell.  It  was  a  story  of  tact,  common- 
sense,  good  judgment,  and  as  a  result  the  people  looked 
upon  us  not  as  conquerors,  but  as  allies,  in  the  island 
solely  for  their  benefit  and  theirs  alone.  I  venture  to 
say  that  there  was  less  suspicion  of  Americans  in  Matan- 
zas than  in  any  other  city  in  Cuba. 

Almost  before  he  got  settled  in  Matanzas  General 
Wilson  was  up  and  doing.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to 
take  a  trip  through  his  entire  province  by  train  and  on 
horseback.  He  visited  every  place  of  importance  to  be 
found.  His  special  train  consisted  of  one  day  coach, 
two  passenger  -  cars  with  seats  removed  and  supplied 
with  cots  and  bedding,  one  cooking  and  mess  car,  one 
baggage  -  car,  and  two  freight  -  cars  for  horses.  He 
learned  all  there  was  to  learn  of  the  people  and  their 
condition  in  every  city,  town,  and  hamlet.  I  have  never 
seen  a  more  thorough  bit  of  investigation — and  as  a  news- 
paper man  I  have  been  used  to  investigation  all  my  life 

254 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

— than  that  done  by  General  Wilson.  He  made  exhaust- 
ive notes,  and  although  they  were  for  his  private  use, 
he  allowed  me  to  examine  them  freely.  He  knew  the 
number  of  people  in  every  place,  their  condition  physi- 
cally, morally,  and  mentally  ;  knew  what  the  condition 
of  agriculture  was  ;  who  the  officials  of  the  place  were  ; 
how  many  starving  and  impoverished  persons  there 
were  ;  the  state  of  education  and  religion  ;  what  the 
needs  of  the  place  were  in  a  governmental  sense  ;  how 
many  animals,  cattle,  hogs,  and  horses,  there  were — in 
short,  everything  of  human  interest  in  every  town  and 
village  under  his  control.  From  his  rough  notes  alone 
I  could  write  a  book.  Here  is  a  sample  on  the  very  first 
page: 

Sabanilla.  —  Arrived  2.30  p.m.  Four  thousand  two  hun- 
dred people,  one-third  of  whom  are  reconcentrados ;  about  1700 
indigent,  and  need  work;  have  returned  about  200  families  to 
their  farms.  Plantations  are  not  working  fully  because  they 
are  short  of  cattle ;  they  are  growing  potatoes  and  vegetables 
enough  to  keep  the  people  going;  if  they  do  not  have  cattle, 
they  cannot  begin  farming  on  any  scale  of  importance.  Every- 
body says:  "  Must  have  cattle."  One  hundred  and  fifty  yoke  of 
oxen  are  necessary.  Have  about  14  milking  cows  in  the  town. 
Spaniards  left  on  December  15th  ;  people  were  not  permitted  to 
return  to  their  places  until  the  Spaniards  were  gone.  Eight 
cases  of  small-pox  here  ;  doctor  has  visited  them,  and  all  people 
are  now  vaccinated.  Fifteen  thousand  rations  have  been  re- 
ceived to  date,  and  3300  already  distributed;  balance  will  last  18 
or  20  days  ;  10  on  the  committee  of  distribution  ;  people  all  want 
rations;  mayor  is  giving  only  to  those  who  are  helpless.  About 
800  widows,  girls,  and  helpless  children  left  without  male  sup- 
port. Mayor  himself  is  working  plantation  with  80  men  and  42 
r  257 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

oxen.  Will  have  100,000  arrobas  of  cane  this  year,  which  he  will 
send  to  Conchita  mill  for  grinding.  Four  more  plantations  pro- 
ducing cane.  Four  or  five  caballerias  is  all  mayor  is  working 
himself;  he  has  104,  but  cannot  work  them  for  lack  of  cattle  and 
money.  Situation  is  gradually  improving,  people  are  getting  to 
work,  are  in  fairly  good  condition,  and  very  hopeful. 

Here  is  another  extract  selected  at  haphazard : 

Las  Cabezas. — Arrived  9.20  a.m.,  Tuesday,  January  24th. 
Met  at  depot  by  alcalde  and  ayuntamiento ;  name  of  alcalde, 
Doctor  Lino  Fumero.  Senora  Adelaida  Perez,  the  school-mis- 
tress, with  her  school  of  64  girls,  also  at  depot.  The  girls  were 
all  well  dressed  and  clean,  and  Senora  Perez  made  a  very  intelli- 
gent and  patriotic  address.  She  has  received  no  pay  for  three 
years,  and  the  alcalde  was  instructed  to  furnish  her  with  rations 
if  she  was  needy.  The  town  looks  poor,  scattered,  and  very 
dirty,  and  yet  the  alcalde  states  that  in  former  times  they  were 
very  prosperous.  Visited  the  church,  which  had  formerly  been 
used  by  the  Spanish  troops  as  a  barracks  ;  it  was  in  a  filthy  con- 
dition, and  the  priest  was  under  the  influence  of  liquor ;  he  was 
an  illiterate  Spaniard  brought  over  with  the  Spanish  troops,  and 
evidently  not  worth  taking  back.  The  cemetery  (the  care  of 
which  seems  heretofore  to  have  been  one  of  the  functions  of  the 
priests)  was  in  a  horrible  condition ;  skulls  and  bones  lying  on 
top  of  the  ground,  and  everything  unkempt  and  decaying.  Town 
people  advised  to  secure  another  priest. 

Railroad  has  been  running  into  the  town  about  four  years. 
Between  5000  and  6000  people  in  the  termino ;  before  the  war 
there  were  9700;  the  difference  in  numbers  represents  the  people 
who  have  died,  starved,  or  been  killed.  They  had  in  this  town 
4500  reconcentrados,  many  of  whom  died.  There  are  now  about 
300  widows  and  their  families.  Total  destitute,  from  700  to  1000. 
Some  of  the  people  have  left  for  the  sugar  estates  in  other  ter- 
minos  to  find  employment.     They  are  raising  a  few  vegetables, 

258 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

enough  to  keep  the  people  from  starving.  Twenty-six  families, 
some  with  male  members,  are  waiting  to  be  placed  on  their  plan- 
tations and  farms.  No  rations  yet  received.  Some  small-pox  in 
December,  but  none  now.  Rations  have  been  received  at  Ber- 
meja  in  same  termino.  Alcalde  instructed  to  ration  only  the 
helpless,  and  to  use  his  best  endeavors  to  teach  the  people  to 
begin  to  help  themselves. 

Termino  is  very  rich  in  agriculture  in  good  times.  People  are 
industrious  and  expect  in  a  couple  of  years  to  have  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  the  war.  One  man  has  20  caballerias  of  cane ; 
cattle  and  oxen  needed  badly.  Three  hundred  and  thirty  Span- 
ish troops  here  for  two  years ;  after  the  people  had  planted  and 
raised  crops  the  Spanish  soldiers  would  not  permit  them  to  gath- 
er, but  took  from  them,  and  also  stole  everything  they  had,  cattle, 
cows,  chickens — everything.  Naturally  a  healthy  town  ;  situated 
at  the  edge  of  the  plain,  near  the  hill  country ;  hills  not  to  ex- 
ceed 50  feet  in  height;  have  five  good  wells ;  plenty  of  water. 

Some  of  the  general  information  that  General  Wilson 
secured  in  the  first  days  of  his  administration  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows  :  In  1894  there  were  298,391  cattle 
in  the  province  of  Matanzas  ;  in  January,  1899,  there 
were  only  8800.  In  1894  there  were  102,000  horses  in  the 
province,  and  at  the  beginning  of  1899  only  3700.  Matan- 
zas province  had  a  population  of  272,000  in  1894 ;  in  the 
beginning  of  1899  the  population  numbered  191,000. 
Practically  one-third  of  the  people  died  during  the  war. 
The  percentage  of  starvation  from  the  Weyler  reconcen- 
tration  order  was  greater  in  Matanzas  than  in  any  other 
city  of  the  island,  but  in  the  small  towns  of  the  province 
it  was  even  larger  than  in  Matanzas  city.  Here  is  a  sam- 
ple from  statistics  collected  by  Captain  Thompson  of 
General  Wilson's  staff,  who  went  to  the  small  town  of 

259 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Mocha,  only  eleven  miles  from  Matanzas  :  In  Mocha,  in 
1894,  there  were  80  houses  and  600  people.  By  orders  of 
General  Weyler  4500  people  were  concentrated  there  to 
starve.  In  the  early  part  of  1899  there  were  1280  people 
in  that  village.  In  the  year  1897  alone  there  were  12 14 
deaths  there.  To  any  one  knowing  the  circumstances  of 
the  situation  could  figures  tell  a  greater  story  of  absolute 
horror  ?  Fully  70  per  cent,  of  those  driven  to  this  village 
by  Spanish  soldiers  died  of  starvation.  Oh,  what  stories 
those  enlarged  graveyards  of  Cuba  could  tell  if  the  dead 
could  speak ! 

But  turn  to  a  pleasanter  picture.  It  was  Carnival 
Week  when  I  reached  Matanzas,  and  for  three  nights  the 
plaza  in  the  centre  of  town  was  a  scene  of  jollity.  A 
blizzard  was  raging  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  United 
States  at  the  time,  and  the  sharp  wind  of  the  cool  wave 
that  blasted  Florida  swept  across  the  Gulf  Stream  and 
made  light  overcoats  comfortable  in  Cuba.  The  hot 
moist  condition  of  the  atmosphere  was  gone,  and  in  its 
place  was  an  air  that  made  romping  comfortable.  For 
three  nights  all  the  healthful  youngsters  in  town,  and 
many  that  were  not  healthful,  crowded  to  the  plaza, 
wearing  masks  and  dominos.  They  masqueraded  in 
outlandish  costumes,  and  danced  and  frolicked  to  the 
music  made  by  a  regimental  band  from  Indiana.  A 
happier  lot  than  these  youngsters  was  never  collected. 
They  shouted  and  screamed,  made  believe  to  frighten 
one  another,  delivered  grandiloquent  speeches,  imitated 
all  sorts  of  animals,  tossed  flowers  about,  and  gave  them- 
selves up  to  a  riot  of  fun.  Hundreds  of  grown  folks — 
chiefly  negroes — also  masked  themselves  and  went  pranc- 

260 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

ing  about.  There  was  no  spirit  of  war  in  that  gathering, 
and  even  hunger  was  forgotten  until  morning,  when  the 
poor  gathered  at  the  palace  to  receive  the  food  the  army 
was  distributing  to  those  who  needed  it. 

All  the  clubs  in  town  were  lighted  up,  and  in  the 
largest  one  facing  the  plaza  there  was  a  full-dress  ball, 
to  which  the  elite  of  the  city  went,  and  where  a  score  or 
more  of  American  army  officers  and  their  wives  were 
guests.  Down  a  side  street  there  were  two  or  three  Cu- 
ban balls,  or,  to  be  more  exact,  Cuban  negro  balls,  where 
the  distinctive  Cuban  dance,  puzzling  in  its  short  mincing 
step,  its  twisting  motion  of  feet  and  body,  curious  in  its 
mental  if  not  its  moral  effect,  was  danced  to  the  weird 
combination  of  music  consisting  of  violins  and  trumpets 
and  tomtoms  that  always  goes  with  that  dance.  The 
town  was  gay  and  happy,  and  the  sombre  cathedral  in 
the  centre  of  town,  with  its  jangling  bells — there  does 
seem  to  be  a  tuneful  church -bell  in  all  Cuba — seemed 
out  of  place  in  a  setting  of  so  much  joy. 

Matanzas,  like  Havana,  was  being  cleaned  by  the 
United  States  authorities.  The  prisoners  were  set  at 
cleaning  streets,  and  Cubans  were  being  hired  to  help 
in  the  work.  General  Wilson  made  no  secret  of  the  fact 
that  he  saw  no  necessity  for  our  government  to  put  in 
sewers  and  the  like  in  a  foreign  city.  He  believed  in 
cleaning  up  the  place  on  general  principles,  but  as  for  in- 
stalling a  system  of  public  works,  that  he  believed  was 
extra-territorial,  and  not  incumbent  upon  a  force  sent  to 
the  island  for  the  purpose  of  pacification.  He  said  to 
me : 

"  The  Federal  government  in  our  own  country  does 
261 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

not   put   in   sewers,   pave   streets,  and   the   like.     Why 
should  we  do  it  here  ?" 

General  Wilson  said  he  believed  in  the  efficacy  of  or- 
dinary cleanliness,  and  if  that  was  enforced  strictly,  he 
said,  he  thought  there  would  be  no  unusual  epidemic  of 
yellow-fever  in  the  city.  That  his  views  about  cleanli- 
ness were  well  founded  was  shown  by  the  remarkably 


GOVERNOR  S  PALACE,  AND  PLAZA  DE  ARMAS,  MATANZAS 


good  health  of  our  soldiers  there.  There  was  no  sickness 
of  any  account  among  them  in  Matanzas,  and  I  was  told 
that  the  health  of  the  city  was  better  than  ever  before. 
It  is  an  attractive  place.  Many  of  the  streets  are  well 
paved,  and  although  the  architecture  of  the  city  resem- 
bles that  of  all  the  other  cities  of  Cuba,  the  city  did 
not  have  that  peculiar  Spanish  aspect  that  Havana  has. 
It  was  a  delight  to  see  the  inscription  on  an  arch,  left 

262 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

over  from  the  festivities  when  the  Cubans  celebrated 
the  Spanish  evacuation,  reading,  "  Hurrah,  the  United 
States,"  even  if  it  did  make  one  smile.  Matanzas,  worst 
scourged  of  all  Cuban  cities  by  hunger  and  famine  and 
death,  was  the  happiest  in  the  island  in  carnival  days 
and  under  the  administration  of  General  Wilson.  As  an 
American  to  an  American,  I  give  him  a  cordial  salute  ! 

In  going  from  Havana  to  Matanzas  one  finds  the  coun- 
try slightly  different  in  character  from  that  to  the  west 
of  Havana,  on  the  way  to  Pinar  del  Rio.  In  places  it  is 
rugged  and  rough.  There  are  gullies  and  gorges,  over 
which  the  railroad  runs.  Huge  stones  in  many  places 
crop  out  of  the  soil.  There  are  sharp  variations  in  the 
color  of  the  earth.  In  one  place  it  will  be  reddish,  and 
only  a  short  distance  away  it  will  be  nearly  black.  The 
color  of  the  soil  seems  to  have  little  to  do  with  its  fer- 
tility. There  is  good  and  bad  red  soil,  and  also  good  and 
bad  black  soil.  One  goes  through  sharp  cuts  on  the  rail- 
road and  over  several  high  trestles  soon  after  leaving 
Havana.  In  the  distance,  here  and  there,  low  ranges  of 
hills  are  visible.  At  almost  every  station  the  traces  of  the 
torch  were  visible.  The  ruins  of  sugar-factories  were  in 
evidence  in  half  a  dozen  places  in  this  distance  of  fifty- 
four  miles  from  Havana  to  Matanzas.  Near  the  city  of 
Havana,  Maceo  made  frequent  dashes  into  towns  and 
villages,  emptying  the  jails,  shooting  at  the  guards  in  the 
block-houses,  burning  houses  and  factories.  Nearer  to 
Matanzas,  on  the  open  plain  and  in  the  foot-hills  about 
the  famous  Pan  of  Matanzas,  General  Betancourt  fought 
many  pitched  battles  with  the  Spanish  forces  that  were 
stationed  in  and  about  Matanzas. 

263 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  see  some  of  the  sugar-centrals  in 
operation.  I  remember  one  that  had  its  tall  smoke-stack 
painted  bright  red.  It  seemed  like  a  beacon  to  all  the 
country  round,  and  it  proclaimed  a  new  order  of  things. 
There  were  said  to  be  105  sugar-centrals  in  Matanzas 
province.  One-half  of  them  were  destroyed  in  the  war, 
and  about  thirty -five  of  them  expected  to  do  some  grind- 
ing this  year.  Another  pleasing  sight  on  the  way  to  Ma- 
tanzas was  the  presence  here  and  there  of  bunches  of 
cattle.  I  travelled  for  nearly  a  day  with  a  cattle-man 
from  the  United  States.  He  was  amazed  at  the  fine 
grasses  and  water  in  Matanzas  province.  He  declared 
that  the  land  was  not  only  good  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses, but  that  there  was  sufficient  grass  in  the  province 
to  support  a  million  cattle. 

Everywhere  that  one  went  in  Matanzas  province  the 
cry  was  for  cattle.  I  can  probably  illustrate  the  impor- 
tance of  this  need  by  a  conversation,  taken  from  General 
Wilson's  notes,  between  the  general  and  a  Mr.  Mendoza, 
owner  of  a  sugar-plantation  at  Banaguises.  The  conver- 
sation occurred  on  the  plantation  during  General  Wil- 
son's tour. 

General  Wilson.  "I  have  been  told  in  the  termino  of  El 
Roque  that  they  had  30,000  head  of  cattle  before  the  Spanish 
soldiers  began  their  depredations,  or  before  they  began  to  lose 
them  through  the  effects  of  the  war.     Is  this  correct?" 

Mr.  Mendoza.  "  I  think  it  is,  because  I  had  myself  over  2000 
cattle,  and  now  I  have  but  one  cow.  I  had  1000  cattle  and  700 
cows  in  all ;  but  these  cows  had  calves,  and  the  number  had  in- 
creased to  about  2000.  I  simply  lost  them  all.  At  first  I  killed 
a  great  many  myself,  and  fed  my  people  fresh  meat  free.     Every 

264 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

day  I  saw  the  Spanish  soldiers  taking  them  away  or  killing  them, 
and  I  thought  I  might  as  well  make  use  of  them." 

General  Wilson.  "  All  of  your  cattle  were  destroyed  in  some 
way  or  another.  How  about  your  neighbors  ?  Did  they  fare  the 
same  ?" 

Mr.  Mendoza.  "So  far  as  I  know,  they  were  treated  the  same 
way,  every  one  of  them.  We  used  to  get  our  cattle  from  Puerto 
Principe,  where  they  made  a  business  of  breeding  them,  and  we 
never  imported  any  cattle,  not  a  single  head,  for  the  last  ten  years. 
I  imported  four  Holstein  cows  and  a  bull  recently,  which  cost  me 
$1000,  but  they  are  all  dead  but  one  cow,  and  that  is  dying.  Be- 
fore the  war  a  good  cow  cost  from  $60  to  $70,  and  a  pair  of  oxen 
from  $70  to  $75.  I  have  bought  this  year  250  oxen,  and  have  paid 
about  $130  per  yoke." 

General  Wilson.  "Would  it  not  now  be  profitable  to  breed 
and  fatten  cattle?" 

Mr.  Mendoza.  "  I  was  thinking  of  that,  but  am  afraid  of  hav- 
ing many  cattle  just  now.  There  is  so  much  suffering  in  the 
island  that,  while  people  would  not  ordinarily  steal,  they  might 
do  it  now  ;  they  are  none  too  honest  at  any  time,  and  the  tempta- 
tion would  be  too  great  for  them." 

Everywhere  that  General  Wilson  went  it  was  the  same 
cry.  I  notice  that  under  the  heading  "  Amarillas "  he 
says,  in  his  notes  : 

Greatest  of  all  necessities— oxen,  oxen,  oxen ! 

In  his  note  on  Calimete  he  says  : 

Several  small  colonias  near  here  are  cutting  cane,  but  they 
have  no  oxen  ;  only  the  great  estates  have  any  oxen  this  season. 
Sixty  yoke  of  oxen  would  greatly  aid  in  re-establishing  business, 
but  a  far  greater  number  will  be  needed  before  normal  conditions 
can  be  obtained. 

265 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

And  so  throughout  these  valuable  and  exhaustive 
notes  there  was  scarcely  a  place  mentioned  where  Gen- 
eral Wilson  did  not  reiterate  the  need  of  oxen. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  all  Americans  who  were 
competent  to  judge  agreed  that  there  was  a  great  future 
for  fruit-growing  in  Cuba.  Twenty  years  ago  the  Ha- 
vana orange  was  one  of  the  commonest  fruits  in  the 


VIEW   ON  THE   SAN   JUAN   RIVER   AT   MATANZAS 


American  markets.  The  Florida  and  California  oranges 
practically  drove  it  out.  Orange-growing  has  received  a 
severe  set-back  in  Florida  from  two  destructive  freezes 
within  the  last  ten  years.  Frosts  cannot  affect  the  Cuban 
orange.  It  is  to-day  one  of  the  sweetest  and  richest  of 
fruits.  It  has  not  so  delicate  a  flavor  as  the  Florida 
orange,  but  it  is  sweeter  than  our  home  product. 
Transportation  to  this  country  is  cheap,  and  when  final 

266 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

peace  comes  to  Cuba  it  would  seem  to  be  probable 
that,  in  view  of  the  failure  of  the  orange  experiment  in 
Florida,  a  large  trade  in  oranges  should  spring  up  from 
Cuba.     In  his  notes  on  Ytabo,  General  Wilson  remarked  : 

This  looks  like  a  good  place  for  Americans  to  come  to  grow 
fruit.  It  is  one  of  the  best  places  in  the  island  for  this  purpose, 
more  especially  for  pineapples,  which  do  not  require  care.  Cer- 
tain lands  known  here  as  "  dry  lands  "  are  particularly  good.  A 
fine  quality  of  tobacco  is  also  grown  here. 

This  extract  simply  illustrates,  as  I  have  pointed  out, 
the  great  thoroughness  and  mental  alertness  of  General 
Wilson  in  his  work.  When  it  is  considered  that  he  made 
preparations  for  taking  a  census  long  before  any  official 
instructions  reached  him,  that  he  made  a  study  of  labor 
conditions,  gathered  statistics  of  every  kind  in  relation 
to  the  province — his  material  on  sugar  alone  would  be 
sufficient  for  an  exhaustive  treatise — and,  in  addition, 
governed  wisely,  meeting  the  many  complicated  problems 
with  resource,  courage,  and  frankness,  it  is  impossible  to 
restrain  admiration  for  him.  He  retained  men  in  the 
offices  they  held,  unless  they  were  incompetent  or  guilty 
of  improper  conduct.  He  induced  the  Cubans  even  to 
select  former  Spanish  sympathizers  to  serve  with  them 
in  several  places  on  the  boards  that  managed  municipal 
affairs,  and  he  kept  reiterating  on  all  proper  occasions 
that  the  mission  of  the  United  States  forces  in  Cuba  was 
for  pacification  solely.  He  fed  from  20,000  to  30,000  per- 
sons daily  for  a  time,  sought  ways  of  finding  employment 
for  the  poor,  and  encouraged  them  to  take  heart.  He 
visited  the  hospitals,  and  caused  them  to  be  purified  ; 
opened  homes  for  orphans  ;  cleaned  the  streets  and  pest- 

267 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

holes — work  in  which  he  had  the  full  co-operation  and 
support  of  his  chief  military  assistant,  Brigadier-General 
Sanger.  He  tried  to  devise  means  of  improving  com- 
merce, and  so  thoroughly  was  he  informed  that  while 
talking  on  this  subject  I  remember  he  quoted  almost  off- 
hand figures  showing  the  amount  of  sugar  shipments 
from  Cardenas  and  Matanzas.  In  1894,  he  said,  there 
were  2,471,000  sacks  shipped,  and  in  T898  the  shipments 
had  fallen  to  920,000  sacks.  He  told  me  that  in  his  in- 
vestigations he  had  found  that  the  pay  of  unskilled  labor 
was  forty  cents  a  day,  and  the  cost  of  living  from  twenty 
to  twenty-five  cents  a  day — allowing  six  cents  for  rice, 
four  cents  for  meal,  seven  cents  for  beans,  and  the  rest 
for  other  things.  He  had  gathered  full  statistics  about 
the  500  miles  of  railroads  in  the  province  and  about  the 
shipping  interests  of  the  various  harbors.  The  province 
of  Santa  Clara  was  added  to  his  command  later. 

I  might  go  on  at  great  length  about  the  conditions  in 
Matanzas,  but  it  would  amount  largely  to  a  reiteration 
of  General  Wilson's  name.  I  might  add  that  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  apply  the  knife  where  it  was  necessary,  but 
he  was  engaged  chiefly  in  binding  up  wounds.  His  rela- 
tions with  the  priests  were  cordial — with  one  exception, 
perhaps.  That  was  in  a  small  town  where  General  Wil- 
son found  a  church  in  a  most  filthy  condition.  It  was  a 
menace  to  health.  He  ordered  the  priest  to  have  the 
church  cleaned,  and  rode  on.  He  was  out  of  patience, 
and  finally  decided  to  send  General  Betancourt  back  to 
the  priest  with  imperative  orders  as  to  cleanliness.  Gen- 
eral Betancourt  told  the  man  that  if  his  Master  should 
come  to  this  earth  again  He  would  not  set  foot  inside  of 

268 


"  OH !    HOLY   HEAVEN  •     ^  /     ',   ;  ,      ; 
General  Betancourt  and  the  Spanish  Priest  at  Cabezas 


CONDITIONS    IN    MATANZAS 

the  priest's  church,  because  it  was  so  dirty.  The  priest 
raised  his  chin,  opened  his  hands,  and  said,  "  Oh,  holy 
Heaven  !"  That  priest  found  it  convenient  to  leave  the 
place. 

Perhaps  the  conditions  in  Matanzas  province  can  be 
summed  up  best  in  the  words  of  General  Wilson  to  the 


WHERE   THE   FAMOUS   MULE   WAS   KILLED 


officials  of  the  town  of  Colon,  a  place  of  about  16,000 
people.  General  Betancourt  acted  as  interpreter  at  the 
conference,  and  General  Wilson  said  : 

"  Say  to  them,  general,  that  I  have  been  in  every 
country  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  and  I  have  never 
seen  any  portion  of  the  world  that  presents  more  evi- 
dences of  fertility  and  possible  richness  than  the  coun- 

271 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

try  from  La  Union  to  this  place,  where  you  can  plant 
and  harvest  every  day  of  the  year." 

The  civil  governor  made  this  graceful  reply  : 

"  If  you  have  found  the  country  fertile  and  the  soil 
rich,  you  will  also  find  the  Cuban  hearts  as  rich  in  their 
gratitude  and  appreciation  ;  and  as  the  country  grows 
richer,  due  entirely  to  the  assistance  given  to  it  by  the 
United  States,  you  will  find  also  that  the  Cuban  hearts 
will  grow  daily  in  their  appreciation  of  and  love  for  the 
great  American  republic." 

General  Wilson  responded  to  that,  and  his  response 
threw  light  on  the  actual  situation  in  Cuba  : 

**  I  am  very  much  surprised  to  find  the  people  so  de- 
serving and  industrious.  The  impression  prevalent  in 
many  portions  of  the  world  is  that  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can people  are  not  industrious,  that  they  are  a  light  and 
trivial  people ;  but  any  one  who  entertains  this  opinion 
will  be  compelled  to  change  it  if  he  comes  tc  the  island 
of  Cuba." 


CHAPTER  XII 

CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

THE  province  of  Santa  Clara  is  probably  the  most 
fertile  in  Cuba.  It  has  for  its  chief  city  and  sea- 
port Cienfuegos  on  the  southern  coast.  Almost 
directly  in  the  centre  of  the  province  and  also  of  the 
island  is  the  old  city  of  Santa  Clara,  known  commonly  in 
Cuba  as  Villa  Clara,  one  of  the  most  healthful  places  in 
Cuba.  The  province  is  the  chief  centre  of  the  sugar  in- 
dustry in  the  island,  has  some  of  the  best  tobacco  lands 
in  Cuba,  has  various  kinds  of  minerals,  none  of  which, 
with  the  exception  of  asphaltum,  has  been  found  in  pay- 
ing quantities,  has  rich  plains  and  lofty  mountains,  and 
abounds  in  the  best  tropical  agricultural  conditions. 
There  is  nothing  which  will  grow  in  Cuba  that  will  not 
flourish  there.  Its  agriculture  at  once  began  to  revive 
after  the  war  ceased.  It  was  there  also  that  the  great- 
est distrust  and  active  opposition  to  American  rule  were 
manifested  in  the  early  days  of  our  military  occupation. 
Cienfuegos,  the  metropolis  of  the  province,  felt  the 
effects  of  the  war  least  of  all  the  large  cities  in  Cuba. 
Its  people  regard  it  as  the  greatest  commercial  rival  of 
Havana,  and  they  do  not  hesitate  to  predict  that  the 
time  is  coming  when  it  will  be  the  chief  seaport  town  in 
s  273 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  island.  Its  harbor  is  one  of  the  most  commodious  in 
the  world,  and  is  completely  landlocked.  Captain  Mahan 
has  called  attention  to  its  deep  water  and  to  its  strategic 
importance  in  relation  to  the  Caribbean  Sea.  The  city- 
has  vast  commercial  possibilities.  Its  streets  are  among 
the  widest  in  any  Cuban  city,  and  few  difficulties  will  be 
encountered  in  securing  a  perfect  sanitation  system. 
And  yet,  at  the  time  of  my  visit  in  February,  it  was  the 
most  foul-smelling  city  probably  in  Cuba,  due  largely  to 
almost  a  total  lack  of  water-supply,  and  to  the  fact  that 
the  Spanish  soldiers  had  just  gone  home,  and  also  to  the 
lack  of  full  co-operation  of  the  people  with  the  United 
States  authorities. 

In  going  to  Cienfuegos  from  Matanzas  one  passed 
through  long  stretches  of  fertile  lands  as  barren  of  peo- 
ple as  the  Dakota  Bad  Lands.  Here  and  there  near  the 
towns  and  villages  one  saw  women  working  in  the  fields, 
and  occasionally  a  few  cattle  were  in  evidence,  but  they 
were  not  far  away  from  the  towns.  There  were  some 
bandits  abroad  in  the  province,  and  the  people  were 
afraid  to  go  far  from  settlements.  The  smoke  of  char- 
coal-burners and  from  numerous  sugar-mills  was  reach- 
ing up  to  the  sky  in  many  places,  in  towering  shafts,  and 
as  one  approached  Cienfuegos  and  saw  the  lofty  Trin- 
idad Mountains  in  the  distance,  the  evidences  of  an  im- 
proved condition  of  agricultural  and  commercial  activity 
seemed  a  fitting  accompaniment  to  the  inspiring  aspect 
of  nature.  Only  thirteen  miles  from  Cienfuegos  the 
great  sugar  plantation  at  Hormiguero  came  into  view. 
Its  grinding  mills  are  about  a  mile  from  one  of  the  pret- 
tiest railroad  stations  in  the  island,  and  its  smoke  and 

274 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

evident  business  activity  formed  one  of  the  brightest 
spots  in  the  island.  A  large  American  flag  standing  out 
in  the  brisk  breeze  from  the  top  of  the  sugar  central 
told  a  story  of  the  changed  conditions  and  probably  of 
the  aspirations  of  its  owner.  Before  that  we  had  passed 
the  great  plantation  of  Caracas,  the  largest  in  the  island, 
also  in  operation,  so  that  by  the  time  we  reached  Cien- 
fuegos,  after  three  changes  of  cars,  we  were  prepared  to 
find  a  city  not  utterly  prostrate  as  a  result  of  the  war. 
There  had  been  cable  cutting  during  the  war  at  the  en- 
trance to  the  port,  and  the  destruction  of  a  light-house, 
with  some  loss  of  life  among  our  fearless  sailors,  but  that 
was  practically  all  of  war  that  the  city  had  experienced, 
and  it  also  had  the  distinction — if  such  it  may  be  called 
— of  being  the  last  place  occupied  by  Spanish  troops  in 
the  island.  The  city  had  the  novelty,  in  addition,  of  see- 
ing Spanish,  Cuban,  and  American  soldiers  on  guard  in 
its  streets  at  the  same  time,  and  it  had  at  that  time  some- 
thing of  a  scare  lest  there  should  be  bloodshed  between 
the  troops. 

Before  we  reached  Cienfuegos  it  became  evident  that 
the  city  was  in  a  state  of  agitation.  When  we  reached 
the  little  town  of  Palmira,  nine  miles  away,  we  found 
the  railroad  station  decorated  with  palms  and  banners, 
and  we  saw  that  flags  were  flying  from  almost  every 
building  in  town.  One  of  the  banners  had  this  inscrip- 
tion :  "  Al  Illustre  Libertador,  Maximo  Gomez."  Then 
we  knew  that  Gomez  had  come  to  town,  and,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  seeing  a  Cuban  city  en  fete,  we  forgot  all  about 
the  beggars  at  the  railroad  stations,  and  even  omitted  to 
write   in   our  note  -  books  that  from   San   Domingo  to 

275 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Cruces,  a  distance  of  eighteen  miles,  we  had  ridden  in 
clean  cars,  with  inlaid  hardwood  floors,  windows  free 
from  dirt,  comfortable  seats,  and  even  a  wicker  chair  in 
a  vestibule  of  the  first-class  coach,  all  furnished  by  the 
Sagua  la  Grande  Railroad,  the  most  progressive,  from  the 
standpoint  of  comfort,  of  any  in  Cuba.  As  we  rolled  into 
the  city,  with  its  beautiful  bay  spread  before  us,  and  with 
children  running  along  the  streets  shouting  "Good-bye," 
with  the  houses  decorated  with  flags  and  the  people 
beckoning  their  peculiar  salute  of  welcome,  it  seemed 
impossible  to  fancy  any  scenes  of  starvation  or  of  the 
horrors  of  war  in  that  place.  The  railroad  station  was 
all  a-flutter  with  flags  and  streamers  and  greens,  and  as 
we  dashed  up  the  street  past  the  plaza  we  saw  where 
Gomez  had  spoken  from  a  rostrum  the  day  before. 
Every  building  about  the  square  was  fluttering  with 
Cuban  and  American  flags.  The  dingy  and  picturesque 
cathedral  over  in  one  corner  of  the  plaza  seemed  out  of 
place  in  the  emancipation  that  had  come  with  the  new- 
born activities  in  the  old  Cuban  town. 

Gomez  had  come  after  his  campaigning  in  lonely  hills 
and  woods  into  a  large  city.  A  gay  procession  had  met 
him  at  the  railroad  station,  and  had  escorted  him  on  foot, 
the  women  and  children  leading  in  the  enthusiasm,  to 
the  home  of  Nicolas  Acea,  a  millionaire  sugar-planter, 
who  lives  in  one  of  the  finest  houses  in  Cuba,  at  one  cor- 
ner of  the  plaza.  The  interior  of  the  marble  house 
is  gorgeous,  and  its  court-yard  one  of  the  most  pictu- 
resque on  the  island.  In  that  palatial  home  Gomez  slept 
in  a  room  the  furniture  of  which  was  gilded,  and  where 
every  luxury  was  at  his  command.     It  was   a  mighty 

276 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

change  for  the  stern  old  warrior,  who  for  years  had  been 
sleeping  almost  anywhere  he  could  lay  his  head,  and  who 
had  faced  the  perils  of  starvation  and  abject  misery  in 
his  campaigning.  He  was  ill  when  he  arrived,  and  his 
host  secured  as  much  quiet  for  him  as  possible.  The  day 
after  his  arrival  he  spent  most  of  his  time  in  bed,  and 
that  night  there  was  little  for  us  to  do  but  to  go  to  the 
plaza  and  watch  the  throng  promenade  to  the  music  of 
an  American  regimental  band.  The  plaza  is  probably 
the  largest  and  handsomest  in  Cuba.  It  was  so  crowded 
that  armed  American  sentries  had  to  keep  the  crowd 
moving  constantly.  There  must  have  been  from  three 
to  four  thousand  promenaders  there  that  night.  The 
electric  illuminations  on  various  buildings,  a  mellow 
moon  shining  down,  and  the  ordinary  lights  of  the  place, 
made  the  scene  extremely  bright.  The  air  was  balmy, 
and  the  wealth  and  aristocracy  of  the  place  were  on 
show.  It  was  a  beautiful  picture.  A  crowded  American 
summer  resort  never  presented  a  handsomer  array  of 
women,  the  greater  part  of  whom  were  young.  Their 
gowns  were  modish,  and  their  appearance  was  distinc- 
tively smart.  If  there  were  any  poverty-stricken  people 
in  town — any  beggars,  any  large  number  of  women  in 
black  as  the  result  of  the  war — they  did  not  show  them- 
selves in  that  brilliant  scene.  The  people  were  happy 
and  vivacious,  and  it  was  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
sounds  of  war  had  been  heard  anywhere  near  such  a 
lively  and  contented  city.  American  army  officers  were 
promenading  with  senoritas,  and  there  was  that  dexter- 
ous use  of  the  fan,  and  that  peculiar  way  of  using  the 
eyes  as  aids   to   conversation  that  indicated    that   the 

277 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Cuban  girl  was  enjoying  herself  to  the  utmost  in  her 
favorite  way.  And  when  the  band  played  "Yankee  Doo- 
dle," the  new  conditions  of  American  unity  found  voice 
in  shouts  from  fully  a  hundred  throats  for  "  Dixie."  And 
so  the  promenading  and  lively  conversation  went  on  un- 
til suddenly  the  strains  of  "The  Star-spangled  Banner" 
were  heard,  and  then  a  hush  fell  upon  the  multitude. 
Every  army  officer  ceased  his  attenton  to  his  escort  and 
stood  at  attention  ;  every  American  civilian  stood  still ; 
hundreds  of  citizens  of  the  place  removed  their  hats, 
and,  when  the  inspiring  tune  was  finished,  the  plaza  broke 
into  cheers.  It  simply  thrilled  the  American  soul  to  see 
and  hear  it. 

The  next  morning  General  Gomez  paid  a  formal  call 
upon  General  Bates,  the  commander  of  Santa  Clara 
province.  The  time  fixed  was  eleven  o'clock.  Exactly 
three  minutes  before  the  hour  General  Gomez  emerged 
from  his  host's  door.  Mr.  Acea's  carriage  was  not  on 
hand.  The  imposing  coachman  had  something  of  the 
manana  spirit  in  him.  It  was  necessary  to  call  a  hack, 
but  exactly  on  the  minute  General  Gomez  and  staff 
reached  General  Bates's  office  across  the  plaza,  and  fifteen 
minutes  later  the  belated  coachman  in  his  elaborate  rig 
arrived.  Soon  Gomez  came  out  and  got  in  the  carriage 
of  his  host,  which  was  probably  the  most  luxuriant  he 
had  ever  used,  and  drove  to  the  Liceo  Club,  next  to  Mr. 
Acea's  house,  where  a  breakfast  was  given  in  his  honor, 
and  where,  in  company  with  several  others,  I  had  been 
invited  to  meet  him.  He  seated  himself  in  one  of  the 
rocking-chairs  of  the  main  room  as  soon  as  he  arrived, 
and  began   talking   softly  to  the   man  who   was   next 

278 


) 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

to  him.  The  place  was  large,  and  the  seventy-five  or  a 
hundred  men  in  the  room  sat  or  stood  about  in  silence, 
every  eye  watching  the  aged  chief.  Their  manner  was 
a  splendid  tribute  to  the  general.  In  another  place  I 
have  described  how  he  began  to  talk  of  the  duty  of  the 
citizen  to  the  commonwealth,  and  how  gradually  his 
voice  raised  in  intensity  until  it  rang  through  the  room, 
indisposed  as  he  was,  with  the  resonance  of  a  commander 
on  the  field.  He  was  magnetic  and  fascinating.  I  could 
think  of  no  American  whose  personal  manner  could  be 
compared  favorably  with  his,  except  perhaps  James  G. 
Blaine.  And  yet  in  every  motion  and  tone  the  military 
man  was  pre-eminent.  He  was  a  general  as  well  as  a 
statesman  and  philosopher  and  adroit  politician.  After 
a  few  minutes  he  lapsed  into  silence,  and  then  one  of  his 
aids  arose  and  whispered  a  few  words  to  him,  and  then 
came  across  the  room  to  say  that  Gomez  would  be  glad 
to  have  a  few  words  with  me.  He  arose  as  I  approached, 
shook  hands  cordially,  but  eyed  me  with  evident  sus- 
picion lest  he  should  fall  into  some  kind  of  a  trap  which 
an  American  newspaper  man  might  set  for  him.  I  had 
been  warned  that  he  was  not  prepared  to  declare  himself 
as  to  American  occupation,  and  I  gathered  from  his  man- 
ner and  words  that  it  would  be  many,  many  months  be- 
fore he  would  speak  frankly  upon  that  subject,  if  ever  he 
does.  He  wore  large  spectacles,  there  was  a  slight  stoop 
in  his  shoulders,  he  seemed  to  be  weary,  mentally  and 
physically,  and  his  thin,  yellow  face,  his  pronounced 
cheek-bones,  gave  a  stern  aspect  to  his  otherwise  kindly 
countenance.  His  voice  was  deep  and  clear,  and  he 
showed  a  reserve  of  vitality  that  explained  why  he  was 

281 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

able  to  campaign  in  the  exposure  and  deprivations  he 
had  undergone.  He  told  me  frankly  that  he  could  not 
talk  for  publication,  but  that  he  was  very  glad  to  see  me. 
I  asked  him  if  some  time,  not  too  remote,  he  did  not  in- 
tend to  visit  the  United  States.  I  assured  him  that  the 
warmest  kind  of  a  welcome  would  be  his,  and  that  in  a 
reception  by  the  American  people  he  might  find  the  best 
kind  of  a  tonic  for  his  shattered  health.  His  face  became 
sad  as  he  shook  his  head  in  reply  and  said  : 

"  No  ;  I  do  not  think  I  can  find  an  opportunity  to  visit 
your  great  country.  I  am  an  old  man.  My  duty  to  my 
family  and  to  Cuba  is  such  that  I  must  give  whatever 
of  service  remains  in  me  to  them,  and  I  fear  I  shall  never 
be  able  to  visit  the  United  States." 

Then,  with  the  simplicity  of  a  most  unassuming  man, 
he  asked  permission  to  sit  down,  while  he  continued  the 
conversation  for  about  five  minutes.  Other  men  were 
waiting  to  be  presented,  and  the  interview  closed,  the 
general,  with  the  skill  of  an  American  used  for  years  to 
interviewers,  having  contrived  to  say  nothing  on  a  sub- 
ject about  which  he  did  not  care  to  talk.  If  Gomez  were 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States  I  am  convinced  that  he 
would  be  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  country.  He 
seemed  a  Tilden  in  cunning  and  resource,  a  McKinley  in 
affability,  a  Grant  in  simplicity,  a  Lee  in  dignity.  He 
was  composite  in  character,  and,  like  most  eminent  men, 
a  riddle. 

That  evening  there  was  a  reception  at  the  Liceo  Club, 
which  was  crowded,  handsome  women  abounding,  and 
Gomez  sat  for  an  hour  and  a  half  and  listened  to  patri- 
otic speeches,  after  which  he  arose  and   greeted  a  few 

282 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

friends  and  some  Americans  and  went  next  door  to  his 
host's  home.  The  next  day  he  went  to  another  city,  and 
his  tour  of  triumph  finally  culminated  in  a  tremendous 
demonstration  in  the  city  of  Havana,  the  details  of  which 
have  been  made  familiar  to  the  readers  of  the  daily  news- 
papers. 

I  had  seen  so  many  persons  of  apparent  prosperity  and 
wealth  in  the  plaza  and  at  the  Gomez  receptions  that  I 
went  about  Cienfuegos,  which  is  a  city  of  propably  40,000, 
to  find  their  homes.  It  was  an  elusive  search.  In  a  most 
unaccountable  way  the  homes  of  the  rich  and  those  in 
most  moderate  circumstances  seemed  completely  mixed. 
There  is  no  distinctive  part  of  the  city  where  the  well- 
to-do  live.  Their  homes  are  scattered  all  about,  and  are 
unassuming  as  to  the  exterior.  The  architecture  about 
the  plaza,  however,  is  most  impressive.  It  is  of  the  Renais- 
sance type,  but  arranged  in  a  continuity  of  finish  that 
one  rarely  sees  in  Cuban  cities.  It  seemed  as  if  each 
building  around  that  extensive  plaza  was  planned  and 
built  with  due  regard  for  the  symmetry  and  architectural 
appearance  of  its  neighbor.  The  Palace,  City  Hall,  and 
the  leading  clubs  —  Spanish,  Cuban,  Workingmen's  — 
seemed  part  of  a  broad  scheme  of  utility  and  decoration, 
and  the  result  was  that  there  were  few  places  to  look 
upon  in  any  city  of  the  island  so  pleasing  as  the  sur- 
roundings of  that  plaza. 

When  one  went  about  the  streets,  however,  it  seemed 
as  if  the  United  States  authorities  were  not  so  keen  in 
matters  of  sanitation  as  in  other  places.  We  were  told 
that  the  officials  were  having  the  town  cleaned,  and  the 
next  night  we  had  proof  of  some  of  this  activity.     The 

283 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

air  was  very  oppressive,  and  about  nine  o'clock,  with  a 
friend,  I  went  to  the  plaza  to  sit  down  and  to  try  to  get 
cool.  We  leaned  back  against  the  iron  railing  of  the 
stone  seats  that  extend  about  the  plaza  on  all  sides,  and 
stretched  our  legs.  We  extended  our  arms  along  the 
railing  and  noticed  that  it  felt  damp.  A  glance  at  our 
hands  showed  that  it  had  been  painted  that  afternoon, 
and  as  we  arose  hastily  we  found  that  our  backs  con- 
tained a  very  vivid  representation  of  the  pattern  of  the 
railing  in  fresh  white  paint.  Why  money  should  have 
been  spent  in  freshening  up  an  extensive  iron  railing  in 
a  park,  and  the  bad  smells  in  the  streets  not  a  hundred 
yards  away  allowed  to  remain,  were  things  we  could  not 
understand,  and  we  said  things  on  the  spur  of  the  mo- 
ment that  were  severe  and  would  have  made  a  Spaniard 
dance  with  delight.  Nevertheless,  the  work  of  cleaning 
up  the  town  was  really  going  on,  and  it  had  been  simply 
a  little  misdirected  effort  that  had  put  some  fresh  paint 
where  it  was  least  needed. 

Major-General  Bates,  who  was  in  command  of  Santa 
Clara  province,  had  his  headquarters  in  Cienfuegos.  He 
has  since  been  transferred  to  Manila.  He  is  a  quiet,  un- 
assuming soldier,  a  splendid  fighter.  He  is  a  silent  man, 
and  reminds  one  something  of  General  Grant.  He  was 
working  hard,  but  he  did  not  seem  to  have  qualities  of 
tact  and  delicacy  in  dealing  with  a  frivolous,  excitable 
people  like  the  Cubans.  He  went  at  his  work  in  the  most 
straightforward  fashion.  He  appointed  a  new  Mayor  of 
Cienfuegos,  a  former  eminent  law  professor,  Dr.  Jose 
Antonio  Frias.  He  sent  for  all  leading  officials  in  his 
province,  for  conferences,  and  he  retained  most  of  them  in 

284 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

office.  That  caused  trouble  among  the  political  agitators 
with  whom  the  province  seemed  to  abound.  General 
Bates,  to  use  an  expressive  term,  did  not  feel  it  incum- 
bent upon  him  to  "jolly  "  them.  He  at  once  set  a  street- 
cleaning  force  of  200  men  at  work,  and  if  little  had  been 
accomplished  it  was  because  the  Spaniards  had  been 
gone  only  about  ten  days.  He  had  been  feeding  about 
10,000  hungry  people  a  day  in  the  province,  mostly  in  the 
country.  He  was  forming  a  police  guard  and  looking 
after  other  details  of  his  administration  on  a  broad  scale. 
He  had  no  time  for  trifles.  He  was  also  studying  the 
best  problem  of  securing  water  for  the  city.  There  was 
a  proposition  to  bring  water  about  twenty  miles,  at  a 
cost  of  $1,000,000  or  more,  and  there  were  other  propo- 
sitions looking  towards  a  supply  from  artesian  wells.  Then 
there  were  plans  for  establishing  a  sewer  system  and  for 
other  municipal  improvements,  the  backers  for  which 
were  clamoring  for  recognition  by  General  Bates. 

The  silent  general  went  on  studying  and  endeavoring 
to  learn  what  the  best  interests  of  the  city  of  Cienfuegos 
and  the  province  of  Santa  Clara  demanded.  He  con- 
sulted with  the  best-informed  men  of  all  shades  of  politi- 
cal opinion,  moved  slowly  in  any  changes  of  established 
rules  or  customs  that  he  made,  and,  above  all,  tried  to 
convince  the  people  generally  that  the  supreme  duty  of 
the  hour  was  to  co-operate  most  fully  with  the  United 
States  authorities,  to  the  end  that  a  civil  government  of 
their  own  should  be  set  up  within  the  shortest  possible 
time.  This  was  no  easy  task  in  the  city  that  had  been 
chastened  less  by  war  than  any  of  the  other  cities  of  the 
island,  for  many  of  the  agitators  were  spreading  the  sus- 

287 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

picion  that  the  United  States  was  simply  manoeuvring 
to  get  hold  of  the  island  of  Cuba  as  its  own  possession. 

General  Bates  made  friends  with  some  of  the  former 
Spanish  sympathizers,  and  this  did  not  please  some  of 
the  extremists  of  the  former  revolutionists.  They  as- 
serted that  in  several  places  he  had  violated  the  principle 
of  home  rule  in  sending  officials  there  who  were  residents 
of  other  places.  There  was  a  constant  clamor  that  the 
extremists  among  the  Cubans  should  have  all  the  offices. 
When  it  was  found  that  the  general  would  not  be  moved, 
all  sorts  of  stories  were  spread  abroad  about  his  inefficiency 
and  indifference.  These  stories  simply  illustrate  what 
harm  irresponsible  and  persistent  clamor  can  accomplish 
if  kept  up,  for  many  of  the  rumors  were  believed.  I  had 
a  long  talk  with  General  Bates  about  his  work.  It  con- 
cerned every  feature  of  the  government.  I  learned  that 
while  outwardly  he  seemed  to  be  slow  in  bringing  about 
improvements,  he  was  really  working  with  the  utmost 
energy.  He  did  not  take  the  masses  into  his  confidence. 
He  was  moving  along  straight  lines,  and  moving  surely. 
He  was  always  the  cautious  military  man,  and  if  his 
methods  were  not  adapted  to  the  executive  work  of  gov- 
ernment in  a  foreign  land,  it  was  because  he  was  a  sol- 
dier rather  than  a  politician,  using  the  word  politician  in 
its  best  sense.  He  was  hampered  by  a  lot  of  irreconcil- 
ables,  and  they  would  have  made  as  much  trouble  for 
almost  any  other  general. 

There  were  some  persons  who  declared  that  the  spirit 
of  discontent  in  the  province  was  responsible  for  the 
outlawry  in  the  country.  Several  parties  of  what  were 
called  bandits  were  swooping  down  from  the  mountains 

288 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

and  hills  and  stealing  what  they  could  lay  their  hands 
on  in  small  towns.  In  the  Western  part  of  our  country 
we  would  have  called  them  simply  horse-thieves.  In  the 
East  they  would  have  been  thieving  tramps.  In  Cuba 
they  were  bandits.  Our  forces,  with  natives  as  guides, 
were  chasing  them.  Some  they  captured,  and  some  they 
killed.  General  Bates  was  alert  in  this  work,  just  as  he 
was  in  all  that  pertained  to  the  peaceful  government  of 
the  province.  He  went  after  the  bandits  just  as  he  had 
gone  at  once  about  the  establishment  of  schools,  the  crea- 
tion of  a  guard  in  the  country  districts,  the  restoration 
of  the  functions  of  civil  government,  in  his  own  quiet 
way,  and  if  there  was  any  fault  to  be  found  with  him,  it 
was,  as  I  have  said,  because  he  moved  in  military  lines 
and  had  not  those  qualities  for  smoothing  over  persons 
who  could  make  trouble,  but  who  really  were  not  worth 
serious  consideration. 

In  going  from  Cienfuegos  to  the  city  of  Santa  Clara, 
evidences  of  the  revival  of  agriculture  were  seen  on  every 
hand.  It  is  the  garden  spot  of  Cuba.  One  passes  through 
Esperanza,  the  centre  of  the  guava  jelly  making  indus- 
try. Dozens  of  men  and  boys  were  on  the  station  plat- 
form with  boxes  of  the  product,  and  they  did  a  lively  busi- 
ness with  American  travellers.  For  the  rest  of  the  way 
to  Santa  Clara,  almost  all  the  land  seemed  under  culti- 
vation. Corn  was  growing,  sweet-potatoes  were  spring- 
ing up,  ox-carts  were  seen  at  the  railroad  stations  with 
loads  of  sugar-cane,  patches  of  tobacco  were  flourishing, 
cattle  were  grazing,  and  in  scores  of  places  women  and 
children  were  in  the  fields  at  work. 

In  going  into  the  city  of  Santa  Clara,  however,  there 
t  289 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

was  one  evidence  of  what  the  war  in  Cuba  meant,  which 
probably  was  not  to  be  seen  in  any  large  town  as  late  as 
February.  A  barbed-wire  barricade,  with  openings  here 
and  there  for  wagons,  was  stretched  entirely  around  the 
city.  It  consisted  of  two  lines  of  posts  about  ten  feet 
apart,  and  the  wire  was  strung  from  line  to  line  in  criss- 
cross fashion,  a  hopeless  entanglement.  Block-houses 
were  strung  about  the  city,  and  it  gave  one  a  vivid  idea, 
of  what  a  trocha  in  Cuba  meant,  and  of  what  the  obstruc- 
tions around  Santiago  were  like  when  our  troops  had  to 
charge  through  them.  To  me  it  seemed  like  a  cowardly 
arrangement.  It  illustrated  the  character  of  the  warfare 
of  the  Spaniards  vividly.  They  seemed  possessed  of  the 
idea  that  if  they  held  the  cities  they  were  victors  in  the 
contest  that  was  going  on.  They  left  the  country  dis- 
tricts open  to  the  insurgents,  but  so  long  as  they  barri- 
caded themselves  in  block-houses  and  behind  barbed-wire 
barriers  they  thought  they  had  the  military  situation  in 
full  control.  There  must  have  been  eight  miles  of  this 
barbed-wire  barrier  around  Santa  Clara,  and  it  was  still 
intact. 

This  city  of  Santa  Clara  has  boasted  that  it  is  the  most 
healthful  of  any  in  the  island.  Why  it  should  be  so  is 
difficult  to  imagine.  There  are  the  same  rough  streets  as 
have  existed  in  all  Cuban  cities.  No  roads  run  from  the 
place,  worth  calling  roads.  The  dwellings  are  huddled 
close  together,  and  a  glance  down  any  of  the  thorough- 
fares makes  one  think  of  a  series  of  jails,  with  the  win- 
dows of  every  building  barred  and  shut  in.  But  it  was  the 
water  supply  that  seemed  to  be  the  source  of  the  greatest 
danger.     A  small  creek,  called  by  courtesy  a  river,  runs 

290 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

around  the  city,  and  out  on  the  edge  of  the  town  is  a 
small,  dirty  building  with  a  pump  and  a  cistern  inside, 
where  the  water  supply  of  the  city  is  collected.  In  a 
tank  in  that  building  was  a  lot  of  stagnant  water,  covered 
with  a  green  scum,  and  it  was  from  that  source  that  the 
city  was  supplied  with  water.  Men  with  carts  would 
drive  up  to  the  tank -house,  fill  their  carts,  and  then 
peddle  the  water  about  town  at  so  much  a  barrel  or  pail. 
The  tank  was  foul-smelling  and  the  water  was  impure. 
How  a  city  dependent  for  the  most  part  upon  such  a 
supply  of  water  could  escape  epidemics  of  yellow-fever  is 
a  mystery. 

To  the  north  and  east  of  Santa  Clara  city  many  battles 
were  fought  on  the  plains  between  the  insurgents  and 
the  Spaniards.  After  they  were  over,  the  insurgents 
usually  retired  to  the  mountains  in  the  distance,  and 
the  Spaniards  went  back  into  town  with  the  dead  and 
wounded.  Usually  neither  side  won.  The  fights  filled 
up  the  military  hospitals  in  town  and  swelled  the  size 
of  the  burial  plots.  When  the  war  was  over  and  the 
time  was  set  for  the  evacuation  by  the  Spanish  troops, 
the  Cuban  forces  gathered  to  the  north  of  the  town  and 
encamped.  As  the  Spaniards  moved  out  on  one  side  of 
the  city  the  Cubans  moved  in  on  the  other  side  and  took 
possession.  The  United  States  forces  had  not  arrived, 
but  the  Cubans  kept  order  and  preserved  peace.  Their 
administration  was  marked  by  wholesome  restraint,  and 
no  reasonable  fault  could  be  found  with  it. 

It  was  in  Santa  Clara  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  W.  D.  Powell, 
of  Jackson,  Tennessee,  the  Secretary  of  the  Southwest- 
ern Baptist  University,  was  opening  schools  and  holding 

291 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

religious  services.  Only  two  of  the  twenty-two  priests 
had  remained  in  town  after  the  Spaniards  left,  and  the 
people  were  glad  to  attend  the  religious  services  that 
Dr.  Powell  started.  I  do  not  know  what  impression  was 
made  upon  the  people  by  these  services,  but  I  do  know 
that  the  schools  did  much  good.  The  children  flocked  to 
be  enrolled  by  the  hundreds. 

It  was  in  Santa  Clara  that  the  last  of  the  Red  Cross 
provisions,  sent  to  the  island  as  soon  as  the  war  was 
over,  were  distributed.  The  agents  of  the  Red  Cross 
found  that  there  was  no  need  of  the  provisions  at  the 
harbor  on  the  northern  coast  to  which  the  cargo  had 
been  consigned,  and  so  they  moved  into  Santa  Clara  to 
finish  up  the  distribution.  The  army  officials  were  dis- 
tributing food  there,  but  the  people  seemed  to  prefer  the 
Red  Cross  supplies.  The  agents  had  been  in  the  island 
from  the  first  time  the  Red  Cross  had  sent  supplies  to 
Cuba,  and  they  had  perfected  a  system  of  distribution 
that  seemed  to  supply  the  people  more  effectively  than 
that  used  by  the  army  officials. 

It  was  a  curious  commentary  on  some  of  the  army 
methods  to  find  that,  when  I  spoke  to  General  Brooke 
about  the  work  of  the  Red  Cross  men  in  Santa  Clara,  he 
did  not  know  they  were  there.  He  added,  that  he  sup- 
posed that  all  distribution  of  food  by  the  Red  Cross  peo- 
ple in  Cuba  had  ceased.  It  was  evident  that  some  of  his 
subordinates  had  not  thought  it  worth  while  to  call  his 
attention  to  that  most  important  feature  of  the  situation 
in  Cuba,  and  he  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  his  surprise 
over  it.  I  told  him  that  if  he  would  telegraph  to  Santa 
Clara  he  could  get  full  details  in  an  hour  or  two.     It 

292 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

was  such  incidents  as  these  that  brought  about  the  criti- 
cism that  our  military  men  were  not  fully  informed  as 
to  the  real  situation  of  affairs  in  general  in  Cuba.  There 
was  too  much  waiting  for  the  perfunctory  military  re- 


COURT-YARD    IN   A    HOTEL    IN    SANTA    CLARA — SAID    TO    BE   THE 
CLEANEST   HOTEL   ON   THE   ISLAND 


ports  on  this  and  that  matter.  The  reports  would  be 
considered  in  the  usual  routine,  military  way,  and  an- 
swered and  filed  away.  It  required  a  long  time  to  ac- 
complish things,  and  this  seemed  vexatious.  I  say  it  in 
no  spirit  of  criticism,  but  as  a  matter  worthy  of  passing 
attention,  that  at  General  Brooke's  headquarters  in 
Vedado,  as  late  as  February,  there  was  little  information 

293 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

to  be  obtained  as  to  the  real  condition  of  the  island, 
except  that  which  was  strictly  military  in  character. 
There  was  public  comment  that  certain  important  mat- 
ters were  never  brought  to  the  consideration  of  General 
Brooke,  as  Governor-General  of  the  island.  The  inci- 
dent of  the  Red  Cross  distribution  of  provisions  in  Santa 
Clara  seemed  to  confirm  this.  And  it  may  have  been  be- 
cause of  this  system,  thorough  enough  for  ordinary  mili- 
tary procedure,  that  General  Brooke  asked  me  to  call  on 
him  after  I  had  made  a  trip  through  the  island,  so  that, 
as  he  said,  he  might  see  the  situation  through  eyes  that 
were  not  military.  I  found  him  eager  for  information, 
desirous  of  responding  to  every  need  of  the  island,  and,  if 
he  was  not  in  direct  touch  with  the  details  of  all  that  was 
going  on,  it  was  because  along  the  pathway  of  military 
red  tape  certain  things  were  turned  aside  here  and  there, 
where  they  were  blocked  completely. 

In  one  respect  Santa  Clara  stands  pre-eminent  above 
all  the  cities  in  Cuba :  it  has  a  hotel  that  is  really  clean. 
It  is  said  to  be  the  only  one  in  Cuba.  It  certainly  was 
the  only  one  I  found,  and  if  it  is  any  advertisement  to 
the  establishment  to  make  mention  of  the  fact,  it  deserves 
it  freely.  The  place — it  is  the  only  hotel  of  importance 
in  town — was  absolutely  clean  from  front  to  back  ;  there 
was  no  second  story,  I  examined  every  part,  and  the 
shocking  things  that  may  be  found  in  any  public  house 
in  Cuba,  if  one  looks  far  enough,  were  entirely  absent. 
The  court-yard  was  beautiful,  but  what  was  of  more  im- 
portance, the  bath-rooms  and  closets  were  entirely  clean 
and  in  a  wholesome  sanitary  condition.  Dirt  of  every 
kind  seemed  eliminated  from  the  place,  and  bad  smells 

294 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTA    CLARA 

simply  could  not  exist  there.  Such  a  unique  manifesta- 
tion of  cleanliness  in  Cuba  merits  wide  publicity,  and  the 
city  of  Santa  Clara  should  be  proud  over  this  distin- 
guishing characteristic. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

CONDITIONS   IN   SANTIAGO 

THE  United  States  was  fortunate  in  many  of  the 
men  it  sent  to  fight  the  skirmishes  and  other  en- 
counters with  the  Spanish  forces  near  Santiago 
in  June  and  July,  1898,  and  it  was  even  more  fortunate 
in  some  of  the  men  left  there  to  reconstruct  the  city 
and  province.  The  chief  one  of  these  men  was  Leonard 
Wood,  who  went  to  Santiago  as  colonel  of  the  famous 
Rough  Riders,  was  made  a  brigadier  and  then  a  major- 
general  of  the  volunteer  army  for  military  services  there, 
and  who  was  appointed  military  governor  of  the  prov- 
ince. He  was  unknown  to  the  country  when  Theodore 
Roosevelt  asked  that  he  be  made  colonel  of  the  Rough 
Riders,  so  that  Mr.  Roosevelt,  who  was  to  go  out  as 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regiment,  might  learn  more 
soldiering  than  he  knew  at  that  time  under  Wood.  Up 
to  that  time  Wood  was  known  among  his  immediate 
friends  as  a  modest  army  surgeon  of  great  strength  of 
character,  undaunted  courage,  excellent  executive  abil- 
ity, and  towering  common  -  sense.  The  country  soon 
came  to  know  him  as  a  magnificent  fighter,  brave  as  he 
was  modest,  and  his  words,  "  Don't  swear ;  shoot,"  were 
one  of  the  pithy  sayings  of  the  war  that  will  live. 

296 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTIAGO 

Brave  as  Wood  was  as  a  fighter,  it  was  in  a  semi-civil 
capacity  that  he  did  his  greatest  work  in  Cuba  and  set 
a  standard  which  will  not  only  be  a  monument  to  him 
and  a  lasting  credit  to  the  United  States,  but  which 
will  be  the  model,  so  far  as  efficiency  and  results  go,  for 
the  government  by  the  United  States  of  extra-territorial 
regions  which  may  come  under  its  jurisdiction.  His 
will  be  the  proud  distinction  of  having  set  the  pace  in 
honest,  efficient,  economical  government  by  this  coun- 
try in  a  foreign  land.  Disregarding  "  pulls "  and  poli- 
tics of  every  kind,  he  governed  with  subordinates  se- 
lected solely  for  merit  and  with  the  one  purpose  of 
benefiting  the  people  of  whom  he  had  charge.  It  was 
on  July  20,  1898,  that  General  Wood  was  ordered  by 
General  Shafter  to  take  command  of  the  city  of  San- 
tiago, to  clean  it  up,  maintain  order,  feed  the  people, 
and  start  them  at  work.  There  were  probably  120,000 
persons  of  all  kinds,  soldiers  of  two  nations  included, 
and  of  all  degrees  of  health,  in  the  city  at  that  time. 
Pestilence  was  stalking  about  with  starvation  as  a  com- 
panion. Poverty  was  on  every  side  and  filth  was  su- 
preme. Courage  in  soldier  or  civilian  had  practically 
fled.  The  dead  were  lying  in  houses  or  on  the  highways 
by  the  hundreds,  and  sick  and  dying  could  be  found 
wherever  one  might  turn. 

The  full  military  occupation  of  Cuba  as  an  island  and 
a  country  by  the  United  States  did  not  occur  until 
nearly  six  months  after  General  Wood  had  taken  charge 
of  affairs  in  Santiago.  During  those  six  months  his 
work  attracted  more  attention  than  it  would  have  done, 
probably,  had  other  men  been  grappling  with  similar 

297 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

problems  to  his  in  other  cities  in  the  island.  In  a  few 
■days  the  country  knew  that  it  had  drawn  a  prize  again 
in  General  Wood,  and  he  was  allowed  to  go  on  with  his 
work  for  several  months  practically  undisturbed  by 
those  in  authority  above  him.  He  cleaned  the  streets, 
buried  the  dead,  grappled  with  sickness  and  disease 
germs,  fed  the  poor,  set  the  idle  at  work,  opened  the 
schools,  established  order,  used  the  money  received  in 
customs  duties  on  public  works,  taught  the  people  some- 
thing about  the  rudiments  of  proper  self-government, 
subordinated  the  military  side  of  American  control,  or- 
ganized a  native  police  force,  abolished  useless  offices, 
consulted  with  the  representative  citizens  on  all  impor- 
tant moves,  and,  in  short,  made  American  occupation  of 
the  city  and  province  a  blessing  to  the  people. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  General  Wood  did  was  to 
establish  a  Sanitary  Department,  at  the  head  of  which 
he  placed  Major  George  M.  Barbour.  The  work  of 
cleaning  the  city  was  begun  the  day  after  Wood  was 
made  governor.  The  soldiers  rounded  up  men  out  of 
work,  and  they  were  set  to  entering  deserted  houses,  re- 
moving the  dead  from  them,  and  in  cleaning  out  breed- 
ing-places of  germs.  Few  men  wanted  to  do  that  kind 
of  work,  but  it  had  to  be  done.  When  the  natives  found 
that  it  meant  not  only  food  and  drink  to  them,  but 
wages  as  well,  it  soon  became  easy  to  get  them  to  work. 
Houses  were  broken  into  wherever  there  was  a  smell  to 
justify  it.  In  68  days  Major  Barbour  removed  1161 
dead  persons  and  animals.  Most  of  them  were  burned. 
It  was  necessary  to  use  fire  to  destroy  fever  germs. 
The  bodies  of  men  and  beasts  and  the  heaps  of  garbage, 

298 


GENERAL   LEONARD   WOOD 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTIAGO 

which  could  not  be  buried  for  lack  of  time  or  for  other 
reasons,  were  soaked  with  crude  petroleum  and  burned 
slowly.  One  day,  when  there  were  216  deaths  in  the 
city,  the  Sanitary  Board  burned  more  than  100  bodies, 
and  buried  the  rest.  It  was  made  a  criminal  offence  not 
to  report  deaths.  Every  available  cart  in  town  was  im- 
pressed into  the  sanitary  service,  and  Major  Barbour 
grappled  with  the  filth  of  400  years.  What  he  accom- 
plished may  be  judged  best  by  the  fact  that  yellow- 
fever  was  practically  eliminated  from  the  town  in  the 
early  part  of  1899,  and  General  Wood  declared  over  his 
own  signature  that  the  city  was  "as  healthy  as  any  city 
of  its  size  in  the  United  States,  excepting,  perhaps,  for 
the  constant  presence  of  malaria."  In  a  letter  written 
by  Major  Barbour  to  a  friend  in  Washington  and  printed 
in  May,  1899,  there  was  the  corroboration  of  statistics  to 
these  words  of  General  Wood.  Major  Barbour  said  that 
for  the  month  of  April,  1899,  there  were  "nine  days  with 
but  one  death,"  an  unheard-of  thing  in  Santiago.  To 
show  the  changed  conditions,  Major  Barbour  took  the 
date  April  12th  and  compared  the  death-rate  for  several 
years  with  this  result:  April  12,  1893,  11  deaths;  1894, 
17  ;  l895>  not  given  ;  1896,  9  ;  1897,  32  ;  1898,  41  ;  1899 
(American  control),  none.  In  the  latter  part  of  June, 
however,  while  General  Wood  was  in  the  United  States 
for  a  conference  with  the  President,  yellow-fever  appeared 
again  and  there  was  danger  of  a  serious  epidemic.  Gen- 
eral Wood  hastened  back  and  soon  had  the  situation 
practically  under  control. 

In  April,  1899,  after  the  sanitary  system  had  been  es- 
tablished   thoroughly,  Major    Barbour    was    employing 

301 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

about  thirty-five  teams  a  day  about  the  city.  These  re- 
moved about  200  loads  of  refuse  a  day.  Two  carts  were 
kept  busy  all  the  time  scattering  disinfectants  about  the 
streets.  The  entire  force  was  composed  of  Cubans,  ex- 
cept Major  Barbour  and  two  assistants,  one  of  whom  was 
an  interpreter.  All  the  men  of  the  corps  were  uniformed 
and  organized  in  a  semi  -  military  fashion.  They  were 
made  to  give  the  military  salute,  and  their  retention  at 
the  work  depended  solely  on  their  records.  The  fore- 
men had  absolute  control  over  the  selection  and  dismis- 
sal of  the  men.  Under  this  system  the  mob  of  600  men 
with  which  Major  Barbour  started  soon  became  an  or- 
derly and  efficient  force,  and  there  are  hundreds,  if  not 
thousands,  of  persons  alive  to-day  in  Santiago  in  con- 
sequence of  this  work  who  would  have  been  in  their 
graves  had  the  old  methods  prevailed.  In  Santiago, 
early  in  the  year,  it  was  seen  that  the  matter  of  Ameri- 
can military  occupation  could  be  reduced  to  a  basis  of 
statistics  with  the  reduced  death-roll  as  the  first  ex- 
hibit. 

After  having  started  the  sanitary  work,  General  Wood 
began  a  general  overhauling  of  affairs.  He  found,  as  all 
the  other  of  our  military  commanders  in  Cuba  found 
after  him,  that  there  were  no  official  records  of  any  value, 
that  the  public  treasury  was  empty,  that  there  was  no 
government  anywhere,  and  that  the  people  were  in  a 
state  of  helplessness  —  starving,  sick,  or  idle.  General 
Wood  began  to  appoint  officials,  consulting  the  people 
first  as  to  the  best  men  for  the  places.  He  appointed 
mayors  here  and  there,  and,  not  to  make  a  too  violent 
change   in    the   orderly   procedure,    put   certain   minor 

302 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTIAGO 

officials  in  power  when  there  might  have  been  some 
question  as  to  their  strict  utility.  The  people  were  used 
to  them,  and  it  was  thought  best  to  keep  up  the  old  ma- 
chinery to  some  extent.  All  the  officials  had  to  accept 
lower  pay  and  to  give  a  full  return  in  service  for  their 
salaries. 

Probably  the  most  important  improvement  of  a  per- 
manent character  in  the  public  works  of  Santiago,  next 
to  the  cleaning  of  the  houses  and  the  laying  of  new  pave- 
ments in  the  streets,  was  the  repair  of  the  water-supply 
system.  In  the  early  days  of  American  military  control 
water  was  as  necessary  as  fire  in  the  cleansing  process. 
The  water  system  in  Santiago  had  been  established  in 
1839,  and  through  neglect  and  mismanagement  it  was  in 
a  deplorable  condition.  There  were  thousands  of  leaks 
in  the  pipes.  Gradually  these  leaks  were  stopped  to  a 
large  extent,  and  then  a  moderate  supply  of  water  be- 
came available  in  every  part  of  town.  The  men  who  had 
food  to  sell  at  that  time  held  it  at  enormous  prices,  and 
it  became  necessary  for  General  Wood  to  issue  an  order 
regulating  food  prices.  To  this  order,  with  the  improve- 
ment in  sanitary  conditions  and  a  better  supply  of  water, 
could  be  attributed  at  once  a  change  in  the  physical  con- 
dition of  the  people.  The  establishment  of  a  yellow- 
fever  hospital  on  an  island  in  the  harbor,  and  of  deten- 
tion hospitals  at  the  water's  edge,  soon  brought  about  a 
great  change  in  the  matter  of  infectious  diseases. 

It  was  necessary  to  open  the  courts  as  soon  as  possible 

and   get  them  going  once  more.     General  Wood  went 

through  the  prisons  and  administered  justice  off-hand 

himself  for  a  time.     It  was  not  long  before  he  made  some 

u  305 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

radical  changes  in  the  matter  of  rights  of  citizens.  After 
proper  consideration  of  the  matter  he  established  a  Bill 
of  Rights,  which  included  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
the  right  of  peaceable  assembly,  the  right  of  habeas 
corpus,  and  the  right  to  give  bail  for  all  offences  not 
capital.  It  was  there  that  a  most  important  part  of 
General  Wood's  plan  of  reconstruction  was  put  in  force. 
He  wanted  to  impress  upon  the  people  that  the  civil  law 
must  be  supreme,  and  that  such  a  thing  as  self-govern- 
ment could  not  be  established  unless  there  should  be  re- 
spect for  law.  He  showed  that  there  were  to  be  no  priv- 
ileged classes  in  the  province  in  the  future,  and  he  made 
it  plain  that  militarism  was  to  be  avoided  in  every  pos- 
sible way. 

General  Wood  quickly  turned  his  attention  to  the 
schools  of  the  province.  In  nearly  every  place  in  the 
province  he  soon  had  them  in  operation.  The  teachers 
were  willing  to  work  for  less  than  their  former  salaries, 
where  it  was  found  that  the  cities  and  towns  could  not 
raise  sufficient  money  to  pay  them,  and  would  have  to 
rely  upon  help  from  the  customs  duties  of  the  province 
to  make  both  ends  meet.  In  the  city  of  Santiago  nearly 
thirty  kindergartens  were  established  for  children  under 
seven  years  of  age,  and  the  other  schools  were  started 
up  once  more.  General  Wood  has  said  that  he  has  never 
seen  a  more  enthusiastic  set  of  youngsters  than  those  in 
these  schools.  A  broad  scheme  of  school  reform  has 
been  studied  out,  and  in  the  evolution  of  self-govern- 
ment which  must  be  started  by  the  United  States,  doubt- 
less this  will  be  one  of  the  most  important  steps.  It  will 
mean  good   school-houses  and   progressive   methods  of 

306 


■Pff^ 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTIAGO 

teaching  —  methods  especially  adapted  to  the  changed 
condition  of  affairs  in  Cuba. 

With  all  the  confusion  when  General  Wood  took  hold 
of  affairs  in  Santiago,  there  was  one  really  attractive 
phase  of  the  situation — there  was  plenty  of  work  to  be 
done.  Another  pleasing  phase  of  the  situation  was  that 
through  the  customs  receipts  there  was  money  available 
to  a  limited  extent  to  pay  for  the  work.  The  first  work 
in  all  the  towns  of  the  province,  as  well  as  in  the  city  of 
Santiago  itself,  was  to  clean  up.  Then  came  work  on 
street  improvements  and  on  bridges.  General  Wood  set 
apart  every  dollar  that  he  could  spare  of  the  customs  re- 
ceipts for  this  kind  of  work.  He  paid  a  daily  wage  of 
seventy-five  cents,  or  of  fifty  cents  and  a  ration  of  food, 
for  labor  on  public  works.  Some  of  his  workmen  took 
three  rations  of  food  instead  of  money.  Where  men  were 
able  to  work,  no  food  would  be  given  unless  they  gave 
labor  in  exchange.  Of  course,  in  the  early  occupation  of 
the  place,  food  was  given  to  the  hungry  and  no  questions 
were  asked.  Rations  were  issued  at  that  time  to  from 
18,000  to  25,000  a  day,  and  on  one  day  the  issue  is  said  to 
have  run  as  high  as  50,000.  Early  in  1899  the  issue  of 
free  rations  practically  ended,  and  after  October,  1898,  the 
province  practically  became  self-sustaining.  The  reve- 
nues were  sufficient  to  pay  for  all  salaries,  to  support 
schools,  keep  the  light-houses  in  operation,  and  to  pay 
for  the  sanitary  and  police  measures  that  were  in  force. 
In  addition  to  all  this,  General  Wood  noted  with  pride 
that  he  had  been  able  to  accumulate  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  million  dollars  as  a  surplus  for  sanitary  and  harbor 
work. 

309 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

At  first  General  Wood  had  complete  control  over  the 
revenue  receipts  of  the  province,  but  after  the  occupa- 
tion of  Cuba  had  become  general  by  the  United  States 
the  money  was  turned  into  the  general  treasury  of  the 
island,  from  which  appropriations  were  made  for  work  in 
Santiago.  General  Wood  noted  with  satisfaction  that 
most  of  the  larger  towns  in  his  province  became  self-sup- 
porting in  a  short  time  from  their  own  municipal  taxes. 
Those  which  were  not  self-sustaining  he  helped  out  from 
the  general  funds.  It  was  found  that  by  economy  and 
by  the  abolition  of  useless  offices  the  municipalities  could 
sustain  themselves  upon  a  very  much  reduced  income. 
The  wholesome  lesson  of  living  within  one's  income  was 
thus  taught  to  the  people. 

In  writing  of  the  matter  of  taxation  and  the  use  of 
public  revenues,  General  Wood  has  said  in  his  reports  and 
other  papers  that  he  believes  that  all  the  public  revenues 
of  the  island  must  be  used,  for  a  time  at  least,  in  estab- 
lishing courts,  schools,  opening  highways,  maintaining  a 
rural  police,  and  in  making  various  other  improvements, 
so  as  to  give  employment  to  large  numbers  of  men.  He 
has  said  that  in  a  short  time  a  modified  system  of  taxa- 
tion can  be  put  in  force,  and  the  condition  of  the  people 
be  improved  through  that  time-honored  and  well-proved 
remedy  for  trouble — plenty  of  work.  To  tax  the  people 
in  the  interior  of  the  island  directly,  he  declared,  would 
be  simply  the  extortion  of  blood-money. 

General  Wood  made  several  trips  throughout  the 
province,  and  soon  had  encouraging  progress  to  report 
on  every  side.  As  an  illustration  of  the  cleansing  proc- 
ess in  other  places  than  Santiago,  it  may  be  mentioned 

310 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTIAGO 

that  there  were  no  less  than  3000  cases  of  small-pox  in 
the  town  of  Holguin  when  Colonel  Duncan  N.  Hood 
took  charge  there,  with  instructions  from  General  Wood 
to  stamp  out  the  pestilence.  Hood  did  stamp  it  out,  but 
every  house  in  the  place  had  to  be  almost  literally 
scraped  from  top  to  bottom.  Early  in  June,  1899,  the 
War  Department  made  public  a  report  from  General 
Wood,  telling  of  a  trip  he  had  made  along  the  north 
coast  of  the  province.  He  had  taken  a  trip  to  other 
places  in  the  province  only  a  few  days  before.  He  re- 
ported that  the  people  were  all  at  work,  and  that  not 
once  was  he  approached  by  a  beggar  or  asked  to  give 
assistance.  He  visited  Santa  Lucia,  where  it  was  re- 
ported that  there  had  been  some  brigandage.  General 
Wood's  words  in  regard  to  this  side  of  Cuban  life  reveal 
not  only  an  excellent  glimpse  into  the  Cuban  situation 
in  the  country  districts,  but  show  his  own  methods  so 
well  that  they  are  worth  quoting.     He  said  : 

I  visited  Santa  Lucia,  near  Sama,  and  the  estates  of  the  Boston 
Fruit  Company  near  Banes.  Everything  at  these  places  was 
quiet,  and  there  was  no  brigandage  there.  The  reports  which 
had  alarmed  them  were,  as  far  as  I  could  learn,  circulated  by  an 
old  scoundrel  called  Feria.  He  has  spent  his  time,  apparently, 
in  circulating  reports  of  brigandage,  and  actually  inciting  some 
ignorant  men  to  committing  some  lawless  acts  in  order  to  give 
color  to  his  reports,  and  following  up  this  work  with  telegrams 
to  Havana  requesting  that  he  be  authorized  to  pursue  the  ban- 
dits, and  incidentally  be  given  a  command  and  big  pay.  I  took 
him  off  quietly  and  told  him  that  my  orders  to  my  officers  and 
to  the  Guardia  Rural  were  to  give  all  men  of  his  description  a 
short  shrift  if  they  were  caught  engaged  in  any  work  of  this  sort ; 

313 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

that  he  was  a  marked  individual,  was  closely  watched,  and  would 
be  summarily  dealt  with.  Most  of  these  reports  that  have  reached 
you  have  been  gotten  up  in  this  way,  and  they  mean  nothing. 
Now  and  then  there  is  a  case  of  stealing  or  robbery,  just  as  there 
is  in  all  our  Western  States,  but  nothing  more. 

The  whole  problem  to-day  in  Cuba  is  work.  Put  the  idle 
people  who  are  now  reading  the  incendiary  press  to  work,  rele- 
gate to  a  back  seat  the  politicians,  whose  present  importance  rests 
solely  on  the  attentions  they  are  receiving  from  our  people,  and 
they  will  not  have  followers  enough  left  to  give  them  the  slight- 
est importance  or  weight  in  the  community.  Agitators  have 
tried  to  stir  up  the  people  of  this  province,  but  they  cannot  do  it, 
simply  because  we  have  given  the  people  something  to  do  and 
put  them  in  a  condition  so  good  that  they  will  not  leave  it  for  a 
lawless  life  unless  absolutely  forced  to.  The  people  who  are  cre- 
ating the  disturbances  to-day  in  Cuba  do  not  represent  two  per 
cent,  of  the  population. 

There  are  no  Cuban  troops  in  arms  in  this  province,  absolutely 
not  a  man,  and  yet  we  have  here  more  than  two-fifths  of  the  en- 
tire Cuban  army  and  most  of  its  desperate  officers.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  them  to  take  their  men  from  their  fields  and  homes.  In 
short,  the  whole  question  is  a  question  of  labor,  not  of  politics, 
and  the  factions  warring  in  the  press  would  be  immediately  with- 
out support  could  their  idle  followers  become  engaged  in  any  kind 
of  work.  I  believe  there  is  money  enough,  with  the  revenues,  to 
accomplish  this  end,  not  to  the  detriment  of  our  administration, 
but  to  its  everlasting  benefit. 

General  Wood  has  made  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  he 
does  not  agree  with  those  who  assert  that  the  Cubans  are 
not  capable  of  self-government.  He  thinks  that  they  can 
be  taught  to  control  their  emotional  tendencies,  and  has 
declared  with  pride  that  he  has  not  had  occasion  to  re- 

3*4 


"... 


A  TYPICAL  CUBAN  WOMAN 


CONDITIONS    IN    SANTIAGO 

move  one  of  the  officials  picked  out  for  him  by  the  Cuban 
people.  All  the  officials  have  been  competent  and  trust- 
worthy. To  inexperience,  and  to  that  alone,  can  any 
just  cause  for  complaint  be  charged.  General  Wood,  in 
June,  1899,  summed  up  his  policy  in  Santiago  by  saying 
that,  on  the  one  hand,  it  was  one  of  good  schools,  good 
courts,  and  good  municipal  government  along  simple 
lines,  with  the  use  of  public  revenues  for  public  works, 
so  as  to  improve  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the  people, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  abolition  of  useless  offices, 
of  high  salaries,  of  heavy  taxation,  and  of  neglect  of  in- 
dustry and  commerce.  He  also  has  urged  with  repeti- 
tion that  the  process  of  giving  self-government  to  Cuba 
shall  be  made  one  of  evolution,  and  that,  above  all  things 
else,  militarism  be  banished.  He  has  declared  that  re- 
generation will  come  through  setting  the  people  at  work, 
instead  of  through  proclamations  and  orders  declaring 
that  the  Cubans  are,  and  henceforth  shall  be,  a  free  and 
independent  people.  Put  them  to  work,  and  the  free  and 
independent  part  of  their  existence  will  come  naturally 
and  of  itself,  has  been  General  Wood's  theory,  and  on 
that  theory  he  has  based  his  work. 

General  Wood  has  also  said  in  reference  to  Cuba  that 
"  everything  is  in  the  future."  Not  everything  ;  that  is 
one  mistake  that  this  modest  and  useful  man,  represent- 
ing so  fully  and  faithfully  the  highest  type  of  American 
manhood — the  kind  that  blossoms  out  in  our  national 
history  so  unexpectedly  and  so  effectively  at  times — has 
made.  The  work  that  he  has  done,  while  it  may  find  its 
best  exemplification  in  the  future,  is  already  of  the  past. 
Valuable  beyond  the  matter  of  price  as  it  has  been  to 

3i7 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

Santiago,  and  to  Cuba  as  well,  and  monumental  in  the 
upbuilding  of  reputation  as  it  has  been  to  General  Wood, 
it  has  been  even  of  greater  service  to  the  United  States, 
for,  disregarding  political  spoils,  it  has  shown  the  true  way, 
the  only  way,  for  this  government  to  rule  a  foreign  land 
with  honor  and  lasting  credit. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

ONE  of  the  first  things  that  the  average  American 
visitor  to  Havana  did  in  the  early  days  of  our 
military  occupation  was  to  stop  the  first  private 
soldier  he  met  off  duty  in  the  streets  of  Havana  and 
ask  how  the  boys  were  getting  along,  and  how  they 
liked  duty  in  Cuba.  There  was  intense  interest  by 
American  civilians  in  the  welfare  of  the  troops,  and  an 
earnest  desire  to  learn  if  they  were  conducting  them- 
selves in  a  way  to  reflect  credit  upon  the  United  States. 
The  attitude  of  the  Cuban  people  showed  that  the  troops 
were  respected  everywhere,  and  it  was  a  pleasure  to  note 
that,  on  the  whole,  the  soldiers  realized  that  to  a  great 
extent  the  repute  of  our  country  was  in  their  keeping. 
The  soldiers  invariably  said,  in  answer  to  the  questions, 
that  they  were  getting  food  that  was  satisfactory  in  the 
main,  that  their  commanders  were  zealous  in  caring  for 
them,  and  that  there  was  little  cause  for  complaint,  ex- 
cept that  they  wished  they  were  back  in  the  United 
States  once  more.  They  rebelled  inwardly  against  doing 
police  duty  in  the  streets  of  the  city,  but  they  went 
about  the  work  cheerfully  and  vigorously  enough. 

I  can  best  illustrate  what  the  presence  of  the  Amer- 
3i9 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

ican  soldier  meant  to  the  masses  of  Havana  by  telling 
an  anecdote  or  two.  I  made  friends  with  two  artillery- 
men off  duty  on  the  first  Sunday  of  the  Carnival.  We 
were  seated  on  a  bench  on  the  Prado  promenade  watch- 
ing the  show.  Suddenly  one  of  the  soldiers  leaped  from 
the  bench,  sprang  out  into  the  street,  and  rescued  a  child 
from  under  an  uncontrollable  horse's  feet.  Five  minutes 
later  he  dashed  away  again.  An  old  man  had  fallen  in 
a  dizzy  spell  and  had  fractured  his  skull.  The  soldier 
carried  the  man  out  of  the  crowd  in  his  arms  and  saw 
that  he  received  medical  attention.  He  was  gone  half 
an  hour.  Later  in  the  day  I  met  him  nearly  exhausted 
and  mopping  his  brow. 

"You  see,  it  was  this  way,"  he  explained.  "Just  after 
you  left  us,  a  little  boy  was  run  over.  He  was  uncon- 
scious. I  picked  him  up  and  learned  that  his  home  was 
only  a  block  away  down  a  side  street.  I  carried  him 
home,  and  when  his  mother  saw  the  boy  she  fainted. 
The  boy's  father  was  useless.  I  put  the  boy  down,  and 
by  motions  told  the  father  to  loosen  his  wife's  dress 
at  the  neck  and  dash  some  water  in  her  face.  He  went 
almost  into  hysterics.  He  paid  no  attention  to  the  boy, 
but  knelt  beside  his  wife,  began  to  caress  her,  pray  over 
her,  and  lament  things  generally.  You  would  have 
thought  she  was  dead  or  dying.  Again  I  told  him  to 
loosen  her  dress,  and  showed  him  what  I  wanted.  I  call- 
ed for  water.  He  just  kept  on  bellowing.  I  told  him  to 
get  out.  He  wouldn't  move.  What  do  you  suppose  I 
did?  I  just  took  him  by  the  collar  and  the  trousers  and 
pitched  him  clear  into  the  middle  of  the  street,  and  shut 
the  door  and  locked  it.     I  loosened  the  woman's  dress 

320 


AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

myself,  got  some  water,  and  brought  her  around.  In 
ten  minutes  she  was  caring  for  the  boy.  I  don't  think 
he'll  live.  When  I  came  out  I  saw  that  whelp  of  a  father, 
and  I  simply  chased  him  out  of  sight.  I  should  like  to 
have  given  him  a  thrashing.  I  have  been  having  a  lively 
time,  considering  that  I  am  off  duty." 

That  man  was  simply  an  ordinary  American  soldier 
who  did  things  whenever  he  saw  that  it  was  necessary 
for  some  one  to  jump  in  and  do  them.  His  companion 
told  me  of  an  episode  in  which  he  had  figured  only  the 
day  before.  The  soldiers  had  orders  to  prevent  cruelty 
to  animals,  and  especially  to  the  little  mules  that  draw 
the  immense  drays  about  the  streets  of  Havana.  The 
sight  of  one  of  those  little  animals  struggling  with  a 
load  which  in  our  own  country  would  require  at  least  two 
horses  to  pull  is  about  the  most  irritating  sight  in  Ha- 
vana, barring  the  cruel  way  the  ox-teams  are  yoked. 
This  soldier  saw  a  driver  of  one  of  these  carts  goading  a 
little  mule  that  could  scarcely  stand  up,  into  trying  to  pull 
eight  large  casks  of  molasses  through  the  streets.  The 
soldier  stopped  the  driver  and  told  him  to  take  off  part 
of  his  load.  The  driver  pretended  not  to  understand. 
The  soldier  made  motions  that  could  not  be  misunder- 
stood. The  driver  refused  to  obey  and  declined  to  get 
off  his  cart.  The  exasperated  soldier  pulled  him  from 
his  seat.  The  driver  climbed  back,  and  again  he  was 
pulled  down.  Again  he  climbed  back,  and  was  pulled 
down,  and  then  he  came  at  the  soldier  in  a  furious  rage 
and  struck  at  him.  That  was  enough  ;  the  butt  of  a 
musket  whisked  through  the  air  and  the  driver  lay  pros- 
trate on  the  ground  with  a  gash  in  his  head.  The  sol- 
x  321 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

dier  was  at  his  side  in  an  instant  and  to  his  relief  found 
that  the  driver  was  not  hurt  badly.  The  man  was  cowed 
completely  and  stood  by  meekly  as  the  soldier  climbed 
into  the  cart  and  began  rolling  the  casks  out.  One  of 
them  was  splintered  in  the  fall  and  most  of  the  molasses 
was  lost.  The  soldier  went  on  until  all  the  casks  were 
on  the  ground  but  two,  and  then  he  told  the  driver  to  go 
on.  He  made  that  man  come  back  and  take  two  hogs- 
heads each  time  until  the  load  was  all  carted  away,  and 
then  he  reported  to  his  superior  officer  and  received 
commendation. 

In  their  police  duty  the  soldiers  were  constantly  set- 
tling brawls.  They  went  into  many  dangerous  fights,  set- 
tled petty  problems  on  the  streets  in  a  common-sense  way, 
and  the  result  was  that  everywhere  they  went  they  were 
respected.  There  was  no  drawing  of  skirts  by  women 
as  they  passed  the  soldiers,  as  I  have  pointed  out  before, 
and  no  insults  were  hurled  at  them  by  any  one.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  was  nothing  of  the  air  of  the  conqueror 
in  their  behavior,  and  soon  the  utmost  good  feeling  pre- 
vailed between  men  wearing  the  United  States  army 
uniform  and  the  citizens.  On  all  sides  it  was  recognized 
that  our  troops,  in  the  parlance  of  the  day,  meant  business. 
When  the  First  North  Carolina  Volunteers  landed  in 
Havana  and  marched  through  the  streets,  their  band 
playing  the  Cuban  national  hymn,  the  Spanish  soldiers 
glared  in  anger  at  them  and  the  people  were  sullen. 
More  than  one  of  those  Tar  Heel  soldiers  took  a  long 
breath,  felt  to  see  if  his  ammunition  belt  was  all  right, 
threw  his  head  back,  and  marched  along  as  if  he  were  the 
personal  representative  of  the  entire  nation  of  the  United 

322 


AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

States.  The  tension  lessened  in  a  few  days,  and  soon 
the  people  began  to  look  upon  the  soldiers  as  really  true 
friends. 

It  was  down  in  Cienfuegos  that  an  Ohio  regiment  was 
under  probably  the  severest  stress  of  any  that  occupied 
a  Cuban  city  before  the  Spaniards  went  home.  Cienfue- 
gos was  the  last  place  evacuated  by  Spanish  troops. 
There  were  30,000  of  them  in  that  town  when  the  Ohio 
men  arrived.  The  Cuban  troops  moved  in  also,  and 
Spaniards,  Cubans,  and  the  United  States  forces  each 
established  a  patrol  in  the  streets,  and  the  lines  lapped 
over.  Every  Spanish  soldier  had  his  cartridge-belt  filled 
and  he  carried  a  Mauser.  The  Ohio  men  had  about  a 
dozen  cartridges  to  a  man,  and  they  had  Springfields. 
For  the  first  twenty  -  four  hours  our  soldiers  were  in  a 
desperate  frame  of  mind.  Their  officers  could  not  per- 
suade them  that  there  would  be  no  conflict.  They  made 
up  their  minds  that  if  a  fight  came  they  would  sell  their 
lives  dearly. 

Finally  the  tension  became  too  severe  for  one  of  the 
Ohio  boys.  In  some  mysterious  way  he  had  secured  a 
quantity  of  liquid  that  was  not  good  for  him.  His  steps 
did  not  show  what  he  had  swallowed,  and  he  went  on 
his  patrol  with  a  determination  to  whip  the  entire  Span- 
ish army  if  necessary.  He  was  simply  spoiling  for  a 
fight.  The  Spanish  soldiers  did  not  commit  any  overt 
act  in  his  presence,  and  he  was  at  a  loss  how  to  teach 
them  a  lesson.  Finally  he  decided  that  it  had  to  be  done, 
and  that  the  credit  and  reputation  of  the  American  army 
as  a  fighting  force  rested  on  him.  He  swaggered  around 
and  put  on  airs.     The  Spaniards  refused  to  be  insulted, 

325 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

and  when  he  could  endure  the  situation  no  longer  his 
eye  lighted  on  a  glass  insulator  at  the  top  of  a  telephone 
pole.  He  raised  his  rifle  to  his  shoulder.  The  Spaniards 
tightened  their  grips  on  their  weapons.  He  pointed  his 
gun  at  the  insulator  and  fired.  There  was  a  commotion 
on  the  street,  but  the  insulator  was  broken  into  bits.  The 
Ohio  man  tossed  his  head  to  one  side,  raised  his  gun,  and 
fired  again.  Another  insulator  went  to  bits.  The  vol- 
unteer was  in  high  feather,  and  brought  down  a  third 
insulator.  He  had  done  his  duty,  and  he  went  on  about 
his  patrol,  relieved  and  proud  that  he  had  shown  the 
Spaniards  what  a  United  States  soldier  could  do. 

The  effect  upon  the  Spanish  soldiers  was  electric. 
After  they  were  sure  that  there  was  no  danger  of  being 
shot,  they  dashed  to  the  foot  of  the  pole,  picked  up  the 
pieces  of  broken  glass,  and  kept  them  as  mementoes. 
They  even  took  the  pieces  to  Spain  with  them  as  souve- 
nirs of  the  marvellous  shooting  of  an  American  soldier. 
The  news  spread  rapidly,  and  although  it  is  not  over- 
creditable  in  all  its  aspects  to  our  troops,  that  incident 
was  powerful  in  relieving  the  tension  in  Cienfuegos. 
Our  troops  were  without  food.  The  Spanish  soldiers,  re- 
specting men  who  could  shoot  like  that  drunken  soldier, 
generously  offered  part  of  their  food  to  our  lads,  and 
soon  they  were  fast  friends,  and  so  remained  until  the 
transports  sailed  away  to  Spain  with  the  last  of  their 
forces  ever  to  serve  on  Cuban  soil.  The  Ohio  volunteer 
took  his  punishment  like  a  man,  satisfied,  as  also  were 
most  of  his  fellow-soldiers,  that  he  had  played  an  impor- 
tant part  at  a  critical  time  in  international  affairs. 

Although  the  soldier,  whether  volunteer  or  regular,  ac^ 
326 


AMERICAN    vSOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

quitted  himself  creditably  in  Cuba,  it  must  not  be  in- 
ferred that  there  were  no  exceptions.  The  list  of  court- 
martials,  published  in  the  English  edition  of  La  LncJia, 
made  an  American  wince  a  little  as  he  read  the  charges 
and  the  sentences.  Most  of  the  soldiers  on  trial  were 
accused  of  drunkenness.  Occasionally  one  was  punished 
for  impudence  or  assault,  and  now  and  then  one  was  sen- 
tenced heavily  for  stealing.  Most  of  the  troops  in  the 
island  in  the  first  months  of  military  occupation  were 
volunteers,  and  in  the  haste  of  securing  them  there  were 
a  few  undesirable  men  among  them.  Most  of  these, 
however,  were  whipped  into  shape,  but  there  was  not 
that  strict  submission  to  discipline  on  the  part  of  the 
volunteers  that  characterizes  the  regulars.  The  per- 
centage of  men  punished  for  unmilitary  conduct,  how- 
ever, was  small,  and  the  fact  that  they  were  punished 
severely  was  of  itself  a  tribute  to  our  military  thorough- 
ness. 

It  was  when  one  visited  the  American  camps  on  the 
island  that  he  felt  proud  of  the  service.  There  was  one 
military  exercise  in  Havana  every  morning  that  invari- 
ably attracted  attention.  It  was  guard -mount  by  the 
Tenth  Regular  Infantry  in  their  camp  at  the  head  of  the 
Prado.  Just  before  nine  o'clock  every  morning  the  bugle 
calls  would  ring  through  the  camp,  and  the  band  would 
take  up  its  position  in  a  broad  street  that  was  roped  off 
in  front  of  a  park,  with  the  trumpeters  standing  behind 
on  the  sidewalk.  With  a  flourish  of  trumpets  and  the 
band  playing  a  march  the  sergeants  and  their  details 
would  come  swinging  up  into  place  to  report  to  the  ser- 
geant -  major.      The  men  of  the  new  guard  would  be 

327 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

placed  in  the  line,  and  the  sergeants  with  a  salute  would 
drop  to  the  rear.  The  sergeant-major  would  report  to 
the  regimental  adjutant,  and  then  the  band  would  play 
light  music  while  the  adjutant  made  an  inspection.  The 
colonel's  orderly  would  be  picked  out,  and  the  adjutant 
would  report  to  the  officer  of  the  day,  after  which  the 


r 


t 


WATCHING   THE    GUARD-MOUNT 


trumpeters  would  rush  to  the  front  and  march  off  with 
the  new  guard,  while  the  band  played  a  march  and 
wound  up  occasionally  with  "The  Star-spangled  Banner." 
If  was  no  different  from  guard-mount  at  home,  but  with 
a  setting  of  royal  palms  in  the  background,  a  motley 
crowd  of  citizens  to  watch  the  ceremony  in  a  foreign 
land,  it  filled  the  Americans  who  watched  the  perform- 

328 


AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

ance  with  a  pride  and  satisfaction  that  always  manifested 
themselves  in  numerous  proud  nods  of  the  head. 

The  camp  of  the  Tenth  Regulars  on  the  Prado  was  some- 
what pinched  for  room,  but  served  a  good  purpose.  The 
people  of  Havana  could  walk  past  the  tents  that  backed 
up  on  the  sidewalk,  look  into  them,  and  observe  closely 
the  American  soldier  at  work  and  at  rest.  The  same 
was  true  down  at  the  foot  of  the  Prado,  at  the  Punta, 
and  directly  opposite  Morro  Castle.  Across  the  bay,  and 
behind  the  heights  of  old  Cabanas,  two  or  three  batteries 
of  artillery  were  encamped  on  the  open  sloping  ground 
towards  the  sea,  and  there  were  the  same  order  and  neat- 
ness to  be  observed  as  in  the  camps  in  town.  The  sol- 
diers over  there  complained  a  little  of  the  dampness  at 
night,  and  some  admitted  that  they  would  prefer  the  life 
in  town,  even  if  it  did  call  for  police  duty.  Down  in 
front  of  the  governor-general's  palace  two  or  three  com- 
panies were  encamped,  and  out  at  Vedado,  three  miles  to 
the  west,  there  were  more  artillerymen  and  the  Seventh 
Cavalry,  Custer's  old  regiment. 

The  great  camp  of  American  soldiers  in  Cuba  was  at 
Buena  Vista,  about  eight  miles  to  the  west  of  Havana, 
on  a  beautiful  ridge  overlooking  the  Atlantic.  It  was 
there  that  General  Fitzhugh  Lee  had  his  entire  Seventh 
Corps,  made  up  of  volunteers.  Although  General  Lee 
was  governor  of  the  province  of  Havana,  his  duties  were 
chiefly  military.  Probably  there  was  never  a  better  con- 
ducted military  camp  than  that  at  Buena  Vista.  Out  of 
nearly  17,000  men  there  were  only  about  230  on  the  sick- 
list  on  the  day  of  my  visit.  The  camps  of  the  regiments 
stretched  along  a  railroad  track  on  either  side  for  a  dis- 

329 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

tance  of  fully  two  miles.  The  men  went  through  their 
daily  duties  with  a  snap.  A  mile  away  was  the  ocean, 
and  there  they  went  for  their  bathing  and  their  frolick- 
ing. The  streets  of  the  camp  were  of  double  width,  and 
the  spaces  between  the  tents  were  unusually  large.  Twice 
a  day  every  company  turned  out  for  police  duty,  and 
the  result  was  that  the  place  was  scrupulously  clean. 
The  men  beautified  the  streets  by  setting  out  palms,  by 
making  sidewalks,  and  by  making  fancy  designs  from 
coral  and  stones  and  white  sand  at  company  headquar- 
ters to  designate  their  names.  The  American  eagle  with 
wings  spread  wide,  made  with  sand  and  coral  and  colored 
stones,  was  a  favorite  device  to  mark  a  company  street. 
The  161st  Indiana  boys,  however,  decided  that  they 
would  leave  a  permanent  memento  of  their  encampment. 
They  erected  a  monument  with  two  bases,  the  lower  six- 
teen feet  square.  The  shaft  was  pyramidical  in  shape 
and  was  twenty  feet  high.  It  was  made  of  large  pieces  of 
gray  coral,  collected  by  the  soldiers  at  the  sea-shore,  and 
cemented  to  a  frame.  The  corners  of  the  bases  were  orna- 
mented by  old  cannon-balls  obtained  from  the  old  Spanish 
forts  near  by,  and  on  the  sides  of  the  bases  were  cut  the 
name  and  hailing-place  of  the  regiment.  It  was  a  pleas- 
ing object,  although  at  first  glance  it  had  somewhat  the 
appearance  of  a  graveyard  memorial.  It  was  symmetri- 
cal in  design  and  well  finished,  and  served  its  purpose 
admirably. 

General  Lee  was  the  easiest  of  the  major-generals  in 
the  army  to  approach.  Although  his  family  occupied  a 
fine  house  near  by  he  remained  in  camp  at  night,  sleep- 
ing in  a  tent.    As  one  entered  the  house  where  his  official 

33o 


AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

quarters  were  situated,  he  could  walk  almost  directly 
into  the  general's  presence.     He  greeted  me : 

"  Down  here  to  look  over  the  camps  and  other  things, 
eh?" 

"Yes." 

"  Been  on  any  marches  yet  ?" 

"No." 

"  Haven't  drank  any  muddy  water,  eh  ?" 

"  No." 

"  Oh,  then  you  don't  know  what  it  is  to  be  a  soldier. 
Why  weren't  you  here  yesterday,  when  I  sent  a  regiment 
out  on  a  ten  days'  marching  trip  ?  You  could  have  gone 
along,  and  you  might  have  come  back  at  least  half  a 
soldier." 

Then  the  general  laughed  heartily  and  told  me  about 
camp-life.  He  was  especially  proud  of  the  small  sick-list. 
He  had  had  the  camp  watered  with  the  same  supply  used 
in  Havana,  and  it  was  interesting  to  observe  the  extension 
of  the  system  by  the  engineer  corps.  There  was  a  sewer 
system  being  put  in  for  every  street,  and  preparations 
were  being  made  for  a  healthful  stay  of  the  troops  dur- 
ing the  rainy  season.  The  volunteers  who  were  in  that 
camp  are  now  back  in  the  United  States,  but  their  sojourn 
in  that  beautiful  camping-ground  just  outside  the  city 
doubtless  will  linger  long  in  their  memories  as  a  delight 
rather  than  a  hardship  of  war. 

The  camp  was  busy  at  all  times.  There  were  scores 
of  army-wagons  moving  about  on  various  errands.  The 
large  freight  yards  were  the  scenes  of  constant  activity. 
At  every  available  moment  some  of  the  soldiers  were 
out  playing  baseball.     Others  were  engaged  in  beautify- 

33i 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

ing  the  tents  or  company  streets.  There  were  the  usual 
regimental  drills  and  occasional  brigade  or  corps  review. 
The  gospel-tents  always  had  large  attendances  at  ser- 
vices. The  troops  published  a  weekly  corps  newspaper, 
called  Cuban  Camp  Clippings,  giving  all  the  gossip  and 
news  of  the  day  in  the  camps.  Perhaps  no  better  idea  of 
what  military  life  meant  in  Camp  Columbia  under  Lee 
can  be  given  than  by  printing  an  extract  from  this  news- 
paper of  the  date  of  February  n,  1899,  under  the  head- 
ing, "  First  North  Carolina": 

Of  course,  you  have  heard  of  the  six -days  march  our  first 
battalion  made  recently.  Well,  we  had  both  a  good  time  and  a 
bad  time  of  it — that  is,  some  of  us  did.  We  left  here  Sunday 
morning,  the  22d  ult.,  and  marched  about  fourteen  miles,  going 
through  Havana.  The  next  day  we  made  about  fifteen  miles, 
and  camped  at  a  place  by  the  name  of  Bejucal,  in  the  centre  of 
which  is  situated  one  of  the  prettiest  little  parks  imaginable. 
Here  passes  were  issued,  and  a  great  many  of  us  visited  the  city 
that  night  and  enjoyed  ourselves  in  different  ways. 

After  marching  the  next  day  about  ten  miles  over  a  very  rough 
road,  we  pitched  tents  just  outside  a  little  town  by  the  name  of 
San  Antonio.  It  was  but  a  short  time  until  we  had  dinner. 
Every  soldier  was  full  of  life,  although  decidedly  foot-sore.  Some 
had  worn  the  bottoms  clear  off  their  shoes.  After  dinner  we  lay 
around  on  the  grass  for  an  hour  or  two  enjoying  a  good  rest,  and 
then  we  were  ordered  to  get  ready  for  dress-parade.  This  was 
unlooked-for,  and  was  met  with  general  disapproval.  The  boys 
were  tired,  stiff,  and  sore,  and  very  much  disinclined  to  do  any- 
thing for  the  rest  of  the  day,  but  at  the  sound  of  the  bugle  all  was 
astir,  and  soon  the  battalion  was  formed. 

The  Sixth  Missouri  was  camped  here  also,  and  we  borrowed 
their  band,  behind  which  we  marched  out  and  passed  in  review 

332 


GENERAL    FITZ-HUGH    LEE 


AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

before  Major  Smith.  The  guard-lines  were  amply  looked  after 
that  night,  and  no  passes  were  issued.  The  next  day  the  boys 
were  given  passes,  and  they  took  in  the  town.  The  citizens  were 
very  kind  and  sociable,  and  did  all  they  could  to  show  they  ap- 
preciated Uncle  Sam's  intervention  in  their  behalf. 

That  extract,  written  by  a  private  soldier,  shows  some- 
thing of  what  soldiering  under  Lee  meant.  If  there  were 
room,  other  extracts  that  might  be  given  from  this  little 
newspaper  would  cover  the  entire  round  of  camp-life. 
Lee  was  as  popular  with  his  troops  as  with  the  civilians 
in  Cuba.  He  regarded  his  position  in  the  transformation 
that  was  going  on  as  merely  that  of  a  soldier.  There 
may  have  been  a  game  of  politics  behind  this  assignment 
of  Lee,  but  the  general  would  not  even  hint  that  he  was 
not  entirely  satisfied  with  his  work.  He  had  made  a 
trip  through  the  province  of  Havana,  and  had  been  over 
to  the  Isle  of  Pines,  which  he  found  to  be  largely  a  waste 
place.  He  had  made  changes  here  and  there  of  the  al- 
caldes of  towns,  but  he  was  going  slowly  in  the  matter, 
his  aim  being  to  make  the  civil  branch  of  his  administra- 
tion rest  as  lightly  upon  the  people  as  possible.  When- 
ever he  appeared  in  town,  however,  he  received  cheers 
at  almost  every  step,  and  if  there  is  any  satisfaction  in 
popular  approval  of  one's  course,  that  emphatically  was 
Fitzhugh  Lee's  reward  for  his  work  in  Cuba,  a  reward 
which  is  the  lot  of  few  public  men  to  receive  in  un- 
bounded measure.  Later,  in  the  military  changes  that 
were  made,  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Pinar  del  Rio  in  addition  to  that  of  the  province 
of  Havana. 

When  one  went  through  the  island  on  railroad  trains 
335 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

he  was  sure  to  meet  military  men  on  various  errands.  I 
travelled  one  entire  day  with  a  paymaster  and  a  detail  of 
soldiers  protecting  nearly  $100,000,  packed  in  great 
chests.  On  another  occasion  I  travelled  with  a  briga- 
dier-general and  his  entire  staff.  On  still  another  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  nearly  a  day's  journey  with  Inspector- 
General  Breckinridge.  Another  day  I  travelled  with 
Brigadier-General  George  W.  Davis,  and  was  delighted  as 
he  talked  about  the  botany  of  Cuba  and  indulged  in 
philosophical  comment  upon  various  topics  of  more  or 
less  abstract  nature.  His  accomplishments  were  unusual 
for  a  soldier.  It  was  in  Pinar  del  Rio  that  General  Davis 
had  command  before  he  was  sent  to  Puerto  Rico.  His 
military  force  in  the  city  of  Pinar  del  Rio  consisted  of 
regulars,  under  the  command  in  camp  of  Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Bisbee,  of  the  First  Regular  Infantry,  General  Shaf- 
ter's  old  regiment.  The  camp  was  on  an  open,  sunny 
plain,  between  the  town  and  the  mountains,  and  was 
unusually  healthful.  The  hospital  arrangements  were 
in  accordance  with  the  best  scientific  principles.  The 
water  was  filtered  by  a  most  elaborate  system.  The 
company  kitchens  would  have  delighted  a  Yankee  house- 
wife. Even  the  men  in  the  guard-house  were  contented, 
and  I  remember  that  several  of  them  asked  me  to  take 
their  pictures  for  print,  although  they  were  in  disgrace. 
Colonel  Bisbee  gave  his  men  just  sufficient  exercise  to 
keep  them  up  to  a  thorough  military  standard  and  no 
more,  because  of  the  climatic  conditions.  Through  the 
camp  there  passed  daily  cavalcades  of  men  from  behind 
the  mountains,  their  mules  carrying  fruits  and  vegeta- 
bles to  market  in  Pinar  del  Rio,  forming  one  of  the  most 

336 


AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

picturesque  sights  in  the  island.  General  Davis  was 
having  the  big  military  hospital  in  the  town  cleaned  for 
use  of  the  troops  as  barracks.  The  soldiers  amused 
themselves  with  games,  and  scores  of  them  had  parrots 
as  tent  companions.  Twice  a  week  the  regimental 
band  played  in  the  town  plaza  for  the  people.  Al- 
together the  camp  was  one  of  the  most  attractive  in 
Cuba. 

Attached  to  the  headquarters  of  General  Davis  was 
Captain  Ambrose  Higgins  of  the  Signal  Corps.  To  illus- 
trate the  thorough  character  of  our  military  work  in  Cuba 
mention  should  be  made  of  a  trip  over  beyond  the  moun- 
tains and  around  the  coast  -  line  of  the  western  end  of 
Cuba  by  Captain  Higgins  and  a  party  to  learn  the  nature 
of  the  country  and  people.  He  went  to  the  north  and 
south  coasts,  a  distance  of  105  miles  in  one  direction  and 
125  in  another.  He  found  evidences  of  destruction  of 
towns  at  every  hand.  There  was  little  in  the  way  of 
government,  although  every  place  had  an  alcalde  or  head 
man  of  some  kind.  The  most  interesting  place  he  came 
across  was  a  settlement  of  Congo  negroes,  brought  to 
Cuba  as  slaves  in  1842.  They  still  spoke  their  native 
language  and  knew  almost  nothing  of  Spanish.  They 
were  in  a  sad  plight,  suffering  from  a  war  which  they 
could  not  understand  and  into  which  they  had  been 
dragged  indirectly  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  It  was 
difficult  to  impress  upon  them  that  the  United  States 
was  now  in  charge  of  the  island,  and  Captain  Higgins  left 
there  conscious  of  having  accomplished  little  in  the  way 
of  good  teaching  as  to  the  pacific  intentions  of  this 
country. 

Y  337 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

In  every  part  of  the  island  the  Signal  Corps  was  erect- 
ing telegraph  and  telephone  lines  so  as  to  establish  com- 
munication with  the  various  military  camps.  That  branch 
of  the  service  also  had  charge  of  the  commercial  telegraph 
systems  of  the  island,  and  these  were  soon  placed  in  a 
satisfactory  condition. 

I  have  referred  in  other  chapters  to  the  satisfactory 
military  conditions  in  the  province  of  Matanzas.  Com- 
ing from  Havana  and  approaching  the  city  of  Matanzas 
one  saw  across  the  valley  and  about  two  miles  from  the 
city  a  camp  of  regular  cavalry.  The  white  tents  and 
rows  of  tethered  bay  horses  brought  out  exclamations  of 
admiration  over  the  picturesque  effect  from  the  train 
passengers  who  crowded  to  the  windows.  Down  on  the 
bay  in  Matanzas  harbor,  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  Fort  San  Severino,  where  the  famous  mule  was  killed, 
was  a  large  infantry  camp.  The  ocean  breezes  swept 
through  the  tents  and  there  was  abundant  salt-water 
bathing  for  the  soldiers.  The  aspects  of  nature  in  and 
around  Matanzas  are  among  the  most  pleasing  in  Cuba, 
and  if  one's  surroundings  can  have  a  beneficial  effect  upon 
one's  health,  perhaps  that  may  account  for  the  wonderful 
condition  of  the  troops  under  General  Wilson  and  General 
Sanger,  for  there  was  practically  no  serious  sickness  there. 
To  show  the  care  that  was  taken  in  the  selection  of  camp- 
ing grounds  let  me  quote  from  the  notes,  to  which  I  have 
referred  frequently,  taken  by  General  Wilson  on  his  visit 
to  Cardenas,  where  later  some  of  his  soldiers  went  into 
camp.  General  Wilson  inspected  the  site  for  the  camp 
and  dictated  off-hand  the  following  to  the  stenographer 
who  acted  as  his  secretary  : 

338 


AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

The  encampment  selected  for  the  troops  at  the  ball-grounds  is 
very  good.  It  is  level,  smooth,  sloping  off  gradually  towards 
the  north,  and  is  in  every  way  suitable  for  a  battalion  of  infantry. 
The  water  is  perhaps  half  a  mile  distant,  and  will  have  to  be 
hauled.  Of  course  in  time  of  wet  weather  the  ground  will  be 
more  or  less  moist,  but  the  soil  is  smooth  and  will  probably 
shed  water  as  fast  as  any  other  point  so  level.  The  tents  should 
be  floored,  and  the  flooring  raised  off  the  ground  one  foot,  if 
practicable. 

The  highway  to  the  land  or  ridge  back  of  the  city  is  direct, 
with  but  few  turns,  though  very  rough  in  spots.  It  is  composed 
either  of  heavy  paving  or  of  natural  rough  stone,  which,  lying 
undisturbed,  has  been  worn  into  ruts,  and  will  require  some  work 
of  improvement ;  but  the  materials  are  at  hand,  and  the  work 
could  be  done  rapidly,  if  necessary.  The  site  chosen  for  a  large 
encampment  is  on  top  of  a  ridge,  which  appears  to  be  between 
50  and  100  feet  above  the  sea-level ;  the  slopes  are  beautiful, 
even,  and  smooth,  and  an  admirable  encampment  could  be  made 
for  any  number  of  troops  up  to  10,000.  Wells  are  from  175  to 
250  feet  in  depth,  and,  while  somewhat  scattered,  it  is  said  they 
have  been  used  for  plantation  purposes,  and  are  believed  to  be 
inexhaustible.  It  will  be  necessary  to  raise  the  water  by  steam. 
The  distance  from  the  camp  to  the  city  is  between  five  and  six 
miles.  The  ground  is  covered  with  stone  fences,  and  the  fields 
are  70  or  80  acres  in  extent ;  grazing  is  excellent,  and  there  is 
sufficient  shade  for  all  proper  purposes.  The  view  from  the  top 
of  the  hill  is  quite  extended,  and  the  ships  beyond  the  harbor 
can  be  seen  for  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  at  sea.  However,  as  there 
seems  to  be  no  use  for  this  site  at  present,  it  need  not  be  further 
considered. 

The  soldiers  had  their  vicissitudes  in  camp,  and  one  of 
the  most  serious  occurred  in  the  camp  of  the  Sixth  Ohio, 
about  six  miles  out  from  Cienfuegos,  on  the  line  of  the 

34i 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

railroad  reaching  the  place  from  the  north.  There  was 
evident  confusion  in  the  camp  as  our  train  came  along. 
We  stopped,  and  Colonel  McMahen  hurried  down  to  the 
track  to  greet  General  Breckinridge,  who  was  on  his  tour 
of  inspection.  "We  are  not  very  well  to-day,"  said  the 
colonel  to  the  general's  inquiry  as  to  the  conditions  in 
camp.  "You  see,  we  had  a  tornado  here  night  before 
last.  It  was  a  terrible  twister.  About  half  the  camp  was 
blown  down.  Half  a  dozen  of  the  biggest  palms  were 
uprooted,  and  one  of  them  wrecked  the  hospital  tent 
where  there  were  fifty  patients.  No  one  was  killed,  but 
we  had  several  men  injured  seriously,  and  it  was  a  lively 
time.  However,  we'll  try  to  be  in  good  shape  for  you, 
sir,  when  you  come  out  to  inspect  us." 

That  was  a  trying  time  for  the  volunteers,  but  I  do 
not  think  the  men  in  that  camp  were  in  a  more  deplo- 
rable condition  than  those  of  a  battalion  of  the  same  regi- 
ment at  Santa  Clara.  The  camp  there  was  on  bad, 
marshy  ground,  with  poor  water-supply  and  inadequate 
drainage.  There  was  no  shelter  from  the  scorching  sun. 
I  remember  that  one  night  about  eight  o'clock  I  found 
nearly  a  dozen  soldiers  from  the  battalion  sitting  in  the 
plaza  of  Santa  Clara,  mopping  their  brows  and  in  a  state 
of  semi-exhaustion.  I  asked  what  was  the  trouble,  and 
they  said  that  the  major  in  command  had  given  them 
an  extra  drill  that  afternoon  in  the  broiling  sun,  and 
at  the  end  had  put  them  through  nearly  twenty  minutes 
of  double-quick  work.  They  did  not  recover  for  several 
hours.  I  did  not  have  opportunity  to  see  the  major  and 
get  his  side  of  the  story,  but  on  the  face  of  things  it 
looked  like  an  evidence  of  the  greatest  drawback  to  the 

342 


AMERICAN    SOLDIERS    IN    CUBA 

efficiency  of  the  volunteer  soldiers  during  the  war — 
namely,  officers  lacking  military  training  and  the  true 
military  instinct. 

And  so  the  story  of  the  camps  in  Cuba  might  be  con- 
tinued at  great  length.  As  a  rule,  the  men  were  con- 
tented and  well  fed.  Measles  seemed  to  be  the  prevail- 
ing sickness  of  serious  character,  although  on  several 
occasions  there  were  deaths  from  yellow  -  fever.  The 
officers  were  diligent,  with  only  a  few  exceptions,  in  look- 
ing after  the  health  of  their  men,  and  discipline  was  main- 
tained at  every  place.  The  soldiers  were  intelligent  and 
physically  fine-looking  men.  They  were  creditable  rep- 
resentatives of  the  American  people,  and  I  did  not  meet 
an  American  visitor  who  was  not  satisfied  with  their 
appearance  and  general  behavior. 

The  navy  has  its  sea-lawyers,  and  the  army  has  also 
its  profound  legal  minds  among  the  high  privates,  but 
not  to  such  a  degree  as  the  navy.  The  army  lawyers, 
however,  were  using  up  some  of  their  spare  intellectual 
activity  in  discussing  the  food  problem  in  Cuba.  About 
one  in  ten  of  the  soldiers  would  tell  you  that  the  food 
given  to  the  men  was  execrable  —  some  of  them  used 
that  word.  There  were  many  outcries  against  Alger  and 
Eagan,  and  even  against  the  administration.  While  con- 
fessing to  no  unbounded  admiration  on  my  part  for  Gen- 
eral Alger,  it  may  be  well  to  give  some  figures  showing 
what  a  thorough  inspection  of  the  food  -  supply  in  Ha- 
vana disclosed,  according  to  a  report  made  by  General 
Ernst,  of  General  Brooke's  staff.  In  February,  a  whole 
ship-load  of  canned  meat,  according  to  the  newspaper 
correspondents — and  it  was  pretty  near  that  amount,  for 

343 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  ship  was  small  —  had  been  taken  out  to  sea  and 
thrown  away.  It  seemed  like  a  terrible  thing,  until  the 
little  matter  of  percentage  was  considered.  An  exhaust- 
ive inspection  of  the  canned-beef  was  made  with  this 
result:  total  number  of  cans,  106,994  ;  total  number  of 
pounds  of  meat,  213,988;  number  of  cases  opened,  513; 
number  of  cans  examined  minutely,  10,692  (one-tenth  of 
the  whole) ;  number  of  bad  cans,  198 ;  number  of  pounds 
of  bad  meat,  396 ;  percentage  of  bad  meat  to  entire  lot, 
1.85 — or  less  than  4000  pounds  out  of  213,000. 

General  Brooke  gave  me  these  figures  for  use,  and 
made  no  secret  of  his  satisfaction  over  them.  He  even 
ventured  to  say  that  in  one's  household  domestic  econ- 
omy such  a  small  percentage  of  spoiled  groceries  would 
not  excite  serious  comment,  but  some  correspondents 
and  many  of  the  devotees  of  yellow  journalism  made  the 
most  of  the  opportunity  when  the  bad  meat  was  sent  out 
to  sea  from  Havana.  I  examined  minutely  the  system  of 
inspection  in  Havana  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Philip 
Reade,  and  can  assert  with  positiveness  that  not  an 
ounce  of  food  came  into  that  city  for  the  army's  use 
which  could  not  be  traced  step  by  step  from  abattoir  to 
the  storehouses  in  Havana.  Under  such  a  system  it  was 
impossible  that  bad  food  should  be  anything  but  an  ex- 
ception, although  it  was  undeniable  that  some  was  to 
be  found  there. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  SUGAR  PROBLEM  IN  CUBA 

THE  prostration  of  commerce  in  Cuba  during  the 
war  with  Spain  was  caused  in  large  part  by  the 
almost  complete  ruin  of  the  sugar  industry  of  the 
island.  Cuba  has  been  called  an  immense  sugar-produc- 
ing plant.  That  industry  has  been,  and  undoubtedly 
will  continue  to  be,  the  chief  one  in  the  island's  com- 
merce. With  the  exception  of  the  tobacco  industry, 
every  other  form  of  business  is  subservient  practically 
to  sugar.  The  cane  is  not  native  in  the  island,  but  there 
is  no  place  in  all  the  world  where  it  thrives  better  or 
produces  more  satisfactory  results.  When  the  island 
became  a  theatre  of  war,  the  conflict  was  largely  an 
effort  on  the  one  side  to  save  the  sugar-plantations  and 
keep  them  going,  and  on  the  other  to  destroy  them. 

The  most  deplorable  sights  in  Cuba  after  the  war 
closed,  barring  the  starving  widows  and  children,  were 
the  burned  sugar-mills.  A  destroyed  village  could  be 
rebuilt  easily,  nature  being  prodigal  with  raw  material 
for  huts.  The  twisted  machinery  in  the  charred  ruins 
of  a  sugar  central  told  a  story  that  meant  a  far  more 
complicated  problem.  Not  only  was  there  the  question 
of  the  ability  to  secure  capital  involved,  but  the  political 

345 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

problems  of  the  future  were  wrapped  up  in  it.  You 
could  see  the  ruins  from  railroad  trains  on  every  side, 
and  when  you  considered  how  much  the  sugar  industry 
meant  to  Cuba,  the  outlook  for  prosperity  was  gloomy. 
On  the  other  hand,  many  sugar  centrals  were  in  opera- 
tion in  March  and  April,  and  some  of  them  had  fresh 
paint  on  them.  These  were  mills  that  had  immense 
capital  behind  them,  and  had  survived  the  dangers  of 
the  torch  at  a  most  costly  outlay.  It  was  estimated 
that  about  one-half  of  the  sugar  centrals  in  the  island 
were  destroyed.  Those  that  survived  were  the  larger 
and  more  important  ones.  So  when  the  war  was  over, 
the  sugar  industrial  situation  was  not  so  bad  as  it 
seemed  at  first,  for  there  was  a  good  foundation  upon 
which  to  start  afresh. 

But  the  production  of  sugar  is  dependent  upon  other 
factors  than  mills.  The  matter  of  securing  the  cane  is 
the  chief  thing.  The  cane-fields  were  laid  waste  as  far 
as  possible.  When  one  recalls  that  a  single  large  sugar- 
mill  in  Cuba  often  draws  part  of  its  supply  of  cane  from 
fields  as  far  distant  as  fifty  miles,  the  complications  in 
the  production  of  sugar  during  such  a  war  as  raged  in 
Cuba  are  obvious.  A  field  of  sugar-cane  lasts  from  five 
to  seven  years,  and  then  it  is  worn  out,  and  a  new  stock 
is  planted.  The  cane  does  not  propagate  itself.  After 
it  is  planted  one  gets  a  crop  in  twelve  or  eighteen 
months,  according  as  the  planting  season  varies  from 
the  cutting  season.  The  fields  have  to  be  renewed  con- 
stantly and  systematically. 

The  production  of  sugar  to-day  in  Cuba,  as  elsewhere, 
is  chiefly  an   agricultural   problem.      The   opinion   has 

346 


THE  SUGAR  PROBLEM  IN  CUBA 

been  general  that  the  most  important  side  of  sugar- 
making  lies  in  the  sugar-mill.  A  few  years  ago  that 
might  have  been  true,  but,  owing  to  competition  and  the 
perfection  of  manufacturing  methods,  a  change  has 
come  over  the  industry.  It  is  open  to  any  man  who  has 
the  capital  to  set  up  a  sugar-mill,  and  by  the  use  of 
ordinary  business  methods  to  make  as  much  money 
as  his  neighbor  in  the  sugar  -  manufacturing  business. 
Whatever  improvements  and  economies  are  to  be  made 
henceforth  in  the  manufacturing  side  of  sugar  produc- 
tion must  be  of  a  minor  character.  The  point  is  to 
secure  the  cane,  which  involves  the  control  of  the  cane- 
producing  land.  Sugar-cane  being  a  vegetable  product, 
many  persons  have  thought  that,  having  the  vegetable 
supplied  by  nature,  the  problem  of  securing  sugar  re- 
mained exclusively  with  the  manufacture  of  it,  and  that 
the  chief  economy  involved  was  to  get  every  bit  of 
sugar  out  of  the  cane  that  was  possible.  The  problem 
is  far  deeper  than  that.  The  key  to  it  is  a  constant  and 
steady  supply  of  cane  delivered  to  a  mill  at  a  minimum 
cost  for  growing  and  cutting  and  hauling,  to  which  is 
added  a  minimum  cost  of  shipping  to  the  refinery  after 
the  raw  sugar  has  been  made.  A  sugar-refinery,  no 
matter  how  scientifically  equipped,  is  likely  to  be  a  most 
expensive  toy,  unless  there  is  complete  co-ordination 
between  the  manufacturing  and  agricultural  sides  of  the 
industry. 

There  are  few  more  complicated  and  more  delicate 
business  operations  than  running  one  of  the  immense 
sugar  estates  in  Cuba.  The  value  of  the  plant,  if  the 
company  owns  its  own  lands,  is  usually  from  three  to 

349 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

five  millions  of  dollars.  On  some  of  the  plantations 
there  are  towns  of  from  1500  to  2000  inhabitants.  There 
must  be  a  working  capital  of  from  $500,000  to  $1,000,000 
to  operate  the  plant.  Some  of  the  plantations  own  and 
operate  as  much  as  from  fifty  to  sixty  miles  of  private 
railroad.  There  are  immense  repair  and  machine  shops 
on  the  estates.  Not  only  must  several  thousand  men 
be  employed  and  cared  for,  but  they  must  be  kept  at 
work  systematically.  To  supply  certain  mills  with  cane 
during  the  grinding  season,  from  fifty  to  seventy  acres 
of  cane  must  be  cut  every  day,  and  hauled  from  fields 
to  trains,  and  then  carried  miles  away  to  the  mills.  The 
slightest  break  in  the  supply  of  cane  means  great  waste 
of  resources,  for  after  the  saccharine  matter  is  squeezed 
from  cane  the  fibre  is  used  for  fuel  to  run  the  plant. 
The  use  of  coal  and  wood,  owing  to  their  cost  in  Cuba, 
for  such  purposes  for  any  decided  length  of  time  would 
ruin  the  plant.  Then  the  matter  of  shipping  the  prod- 
uct after  the  sugar  is  crystallized,  the  purchase  of  food 
for  men,  women,  and  children  on  the  place,  the  financial 
operations  involved  in  always  having  money  on  hand 
for  wages  and  other  operating  expenses,  and  the  thou- 
sand and  one  details  of  business  life  affecting  directly 
the  daily  life  of  thousands  of  persons  —  all  must  be 
studied  and  worked  out. 

To  understand  what  the  problems  in  the  conduct  of 
such  an  estate  were  I  spent  some  time  on  the  well- 
known  Constancia  sugar  estate,  ten  or  a  dozen  miles  up 
a  small  river  from  the  city  of  Cienfuegos.  It  is  a  pict- 
uresque journey  up  this  river,  bordered  as  it  is  with 
royal  palms  and  a  thick  undergrowth  of  shrubbery  here 

35o 


THE  SUGAR  PROBLEM  IN  CUBA 

and  there.  Great  numbers  of  pelicans  were  flying  about 
or  dozing  on  trees  or  shrubs.  Far  away  one  might  see 
the  tall  smoke-stack  of  the  central  standing  out  on  a 
sloping  hill-side,  a  beacon  of  industry  to  all  the  country 
roundabout.  One  of  the  little  cars  drawn  by  a  mule, 
such  as  one  sees  at  many  railroad  stations  where  there 
is  a  central  near  by,  waited  at  the  steamboat-landing  to 
carry  one  up  to  the  plant,  half  a  mile  inland,  and  just 
beyond  a  beautiful  grove  of  palm-trees.  A  dozen  or 
more  large  buildings  make  up  the  plant  at  the  central, 
and  the  many  railroad  sidings,  the  locomotives  and  cars 
belonging  to  the  place,  the  large  number  of  men  em- 
ployed, form  a  scene  of  activity,  such  as  is  seen  only  in 
very  large  plants  in  cities  devoted  to  manufacture  rather 
than  in  countries  where  agriculture  is  the  chief  pursuit. 
A  short  time  before  the  insurrection  started,  Marques 
de  Apezteguia,  the  owner  of  Constancia,  formed  a  com- 
pany to  operate  the  plant,  most  of  the  capital  being 
secured  in  this  country.  It  really  became  an  American 
corporation,  the  president  of  the  company  being  Mr.  Os- 
good Welsh,  of  New  York  City.  Marques  de  Apezteguia 
remained  in  active  charge  of  the  enterprise  to  direct  its 
fortunes.  The  war  had  an  almost  blighting  effect  upon 
the  place.  It  was  necessary  to  equip  about  eight  hun- 
dred men  with  arms  to  protect  it.  Block-houses  were 
built  about  it,  and  there  were  fully  forty  skirmishes  with 
the  Cuban  insurgents,  who  tried  many  times  to  destroy 
the  plant.  There  was  some  bloodshed  in  these  fights, 
and  a  constant  state  of  fear  and  agitation,  but  Constan- 
cia was  saved.  Before  the  war  ended,  the  provisions  ran 
low,  and  almost  all  the  cattle  had  been  used  up  for  food. 

35i 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA      • 

The  women  and  children  worked  in  the  fields  to  a  large 
extent,  and,  by  the  most  careful  and  persistent  effort, 
labor  of  some  character  was  carried  on  all  the  time.  The 
owners  assert  with  pride  that  they  never  paid  a  cent  to 
either  side  for  protection,  and  there  are  many  men  con- 
versant with  the  sugar  situation  in  Cuba  who  declare 
that  it  is  probably  the  only  plantation  in  Cuba  of  which 
this  can  be  said. 

Constancia,  although  second  in  rank  of  the  sugar 
plants  in  Cuba,  has  one  advantage  over  the  others  in 
that  it  is  on  tide-water  and  can  send  its  sugar  on  light- 
ers at  minimum  cost,  direct  from  its  mill  to  vessels  in 
the  harbor  of  Cienfuegos,  only*  a  few  miles  away,  there 
to  be  loaded  for  shipment  to  this  country.  The  other 
factories,  almost  without  exception,  have  to  send  their 
sugar  to  some  port  by  rail,  and  any  one  who  knows  what 
the  ruinous  rates  of  freight  in  Cuba  are  can  understand 
what  an  advantage  Constancia  possesses.  It  means  that 
it  can  produce  raw  sugar  a  margin  of  a  cent  cheaper  than 
any  plant  of  large  size  in  the  island.  That  margin  may 
mean  the  difference  between  a  profit  and  a  loss.  What 
a  plant  of  this  size  consists  of  may  be  conjectured  from 
a  few  statistics. 

There  are  66,000  acres  owned  by  the  company.  There 
are  nearly  fifty  miles  of  private  railroad  under  operation 
to  bring  the  cane  from  the  fields  to  the  factory.  Six 
good-sized  locomotives  are  used  in  this  work,  with  fully 
200  cars  of  various  kinds.  About  1200  men  are  em- 
ployed in  the  fields  and  300  in  and  about  the  yards  and 
buildings  of  the  central.  The  capacity  of  the  land  is 
sufficient  to  produce  80,000  tons   of  sugar  a  year,  and 

352 


H   r 


THE  SUGAR  PROBLEM  IN  CUBA 

the  capacity  of  the  mill  is  equal  to  about  30,000.  The 
mill  uses  up  about  3,000,000,  pounds  of  sugar-cane  a  day, 
and  has  produced  as  high  as  21,000  tons  of  sugar  in  one 
grinding  season.  In  the  yard  of  the  central  there  are 
sixteen  acres  of  land,  with  nearly  six  miles  of  railroad 
sidings.  Among  the  main  buildings  are  the  sugar  fac- 
tory, a  distillery,  machine-shop,  lime-kilns,  foundry,  and 
carpenter-shop,  electric-light  plant,  an  extensive  trolley 
system  for  moving  the  cars  which  bring  in  the  cane 
about  the  yard,  an  elaborate  telephone  central  office,  by 
which  a  train-despatcher  moves  his  cars  miles  and  miles 
away  —  just  as  the  train-despatcher  on  many  a  railroad 
operates  his  cars.  The  machine-shop  of  the  place  is  the 
most  extensive  private  plant  of  the  kind  in  Cuba.  Then 
there  are  tugs  and  lighters  used  for  taking  the  sugar  to 
steamships  in  the  harbor. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  watch  the  plant  at  work.  The 
great  loads  of  cane  are  taken  to  the  crushers,  and  then 
the  juice  goes  one  way  to  be  boiled  and  cooked,  until  the 
crystals  are  whirled  about  in  centrifugals  and  the  sugar 
is  packed  and  shipped.  The  fibre  goes  another  way,  to 
be  used  in  the  great  fires  which  keep  the  plant  going. 
There  is  a  great  bustle  in  unloading  and  shifting  the 
cars  in  the  yard,  and  a  constant  economy  to  prevent 
waste  that  to  an  ordinary  observer  would  seem  of  little 
importance,  but  that  to  the  initiated  is  known  to  be  vital 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  place.  If  one  is  growing  sugar- 
cane and  making  sugar  from  it,  no  false  moves  must  be 
made.  When  more  than  a  thousand  men  are  at  work  in 
the  fields,  principally  cutting  the  cane  ;  when  scores  of 
ox-carts  are  drawing  the  cane  to  the  cars,  and  a  half- 

355 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

dozen  trains  are  hauling  it  to  the  mill  miles  and  miles 
away;  when  provision  must  be  made  so  that  night  and 
day  for,  say,  four  months,  there  must  be  no  lack  of  fuel 
and  no  cessation  in  the  flow  of  the  cane-juice,  or  else  a 
ruinous  expense  follows  ;  when  200  tons  of  sugar  must  be 


LOCOMOTIVE   IN   CENTRAL   RAILROAD   YARD,   CONSTANCIA   SUGAR- 
PLANTATION 


made  and  shipped  daily,  one  realizes  the  importance  of 
entire  business  harmony  in  every  part  of  the  plant. 

To  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  production  of  sugar  is 
chiefly  an  agricultural  question,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  it  costs  about  one  cent  and  a  half  to  produce  a 
pound  of  sugar  in  Cuba,  and  of  this  almost  exactly  one 
cent  is  the  cost  of  the  agricultural  side.     The  cost  of 

356 


THE  SUGAR  PROBLEM  IN  CUBA 

manufacture  having  been  reduced  practically  to  a  mini- 
mum, it  is  on  the  agricultural  side  that  further  econo- 
mies must  be  made  in  the  reduction  of  cost.  It  is  to 
this  end  that  the  trolley  system  is  being  introduced  in  the 
yards  of  many  centrals  to  shift  the  cane  after  it  arrives 
from  the  fields.  It  is  also  to  this  end  that  constant  ex- 
periments are  being  made  to  cheapen  the  cost  of  cutting 
and  hauling  the  cane  to  the  central.  From  ten  to  twelve 
per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  the  cane  is  expressed  in  juice 
at  the  factory,  but  only  from  seventy-five  to  eighty  per 
cent,  of  the  sugar  in  the  cane  is  squeezed  out  under  pres- 
ent methods.  The  problem  of  getting  all  the  sugar  out 
of  the  cane  has  not  yet  been  solved,  nor  are  all  the  mat- 
ters of  conserving  labor  in  the  fields  settled.  A  planta- 
tion the  size  of  Constancia  requires  iooo  oxen,  250  horses, 
and  100  mules,  as  well  as  its  other  equipment,  to  operate 
it  successfully.  When  one  also  considers  that  there  are 
several  thousands  of  persons  upon  a  plantation,  with 
probably  three  or  four  good-sized  towns,  the  question  of 
government  plays  an  important  part,  and  the  moral  re- 
sponsibility to  give  the  people  as  much  work  as  possible, 
as  well  as  to  prevent  them  from  being  discontented,  be- 
comes a  matter  of  grave  import. 

Sugar  plants  in  Cuba  which  produce  their  own  cane 
and  make  their  own  sugar  are  known  as  ingenios.  Those 
which  grow  the  cane  but  do  not  make  the  sugar  are 
known  as  colonias.  There  are  thousands  of  colonias  in 
the  island.  These  suffered  greatly  from  the  war.  The 
owners  of  these  deliver  their  cane  to  the  factories  within 
easy  reach,  and  the  custom  is  to  pay  them  for  six  per 
cent,  of  the  weight  of  the  sugar-cane.     In  other  words, 

357 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

the  purely  agricultural  producer  of  the  cane  goes  half- 
shares  with  the  manufacturer,  the  total  amount  of  the 
sugar  secured  from  the  cane  being  about  twelve  per 
cent.  On  most  of  the  colonias  cane-cutting  is  done  by- 
contract.  The  contractor  cuts  the  cane  at  the  rate  of 
$i  50  for  100  arrobas  —  a  weight  of  2500  pounds.  He 
pays  his  workmen  from  forty  to  fifty  cents  for  the  actual 
cutting,  and  the  rest  of  his  expense  is  in  loading  the  cane 
on  the  cars  by  the  use  of  his  ox-carts  and  delivering  it 
to  the  factory.  Some  of  the  laborers,  however,  prefer  to 
work  for  themselves  and  not  for  a  contractor.  Three  of 
them  usually  combine,  two  doing  the  cutting  and  one 
doing  the  hauling  with  his  ox-cart.  These  ox-carts  may 
be  seen  at  almost  any  railroad  station  in  the  sugar-grow- 
ing districts  of  the  island.  They  are  picturesque,  and 
the  old  Roman  way  of  yoking  the  oxen  by  the  horns 
gives  an  insight  to  the  indifference  of  the  Cubans  to 
suffering  by  any  one  or  by  anything  except  themselves.  It 
is  lack  of  oxen  that  will  cause  serious  delay  in  the  restora- 
tion of  prosperity  to  the  island.  Trained  oxen  cannot  be 
procured  right  away.  The  island  was  swept  almost  bare 
of  them.  Cattle  were  being  shipped  in  from  Mexico  and 
Venezuela  and  other  places  early  in  the  year,  but  the 
Marques  de  Apezteguia  told  me  that  the  island  needed 
several  hundred  thousand  cattle  before  normal  con- 
ditions on  the  plantations  would  prevail.  The  pay  of 
the  laborer  in  the  fields  runs  from  forty  to  fifty  cents  a 
day,  but  if  the  employer  has  to  feed  his  men  meat  at  a 
high  price  for  cattle,  the  problem  of  the  cost  of  produc- 
ing sugar  is  enhanced  to  an  alarming  extent.  The  cost 
of  meat  before  the  war  in  Cuba  was  about  four  and  one- 

358 


THE  SUGAR  PROBLEM  IN  CUBA 

half  cents  a  pound.  In  the  early  months  after  peace 
came  the  cost  of  meat  was  fully  twenty-five  cents  a  pound. 
An  excellent  idea  of  the  condition  of  the  sugar  indus- 
try in  Cuba  at  the  close  of  the  war  may  be  obtained  from 
the  notes,  to  which  I  have  referred   frequently,  taken 


CUTTING   SUGAR-CANE,   SHOWING   THE   CANE   STRIPPED   FOR   CARTING 
IN   THE   FOREGROUND 


by  General  Wilson  on  his  trip  in  January  through  the 
province  of  Matanzas.  General  Wilson  visited  the  large 
sugar-centra/  Santa  Gertrudes,  two  miles  from  Bana- 
guises,  and  as  he  was  looking  over  the  plant  he  made  in- 
quiries as  to  opportunities  for  Americans  to  grow  sugar- 

359 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

cane  in  Cuba,  and  asked  about  the  the  cost  of  land.  Mr. 
Mendoza,  the  proprietor,  said  : 

"  I  have  bought  caballerias  [a  caballeria  is  thirty-three 
acres]  at  $100.  Americans  would  have  to  pay  for  good 
land,  say,  $150  a  caballeria,  or  about  five  dollars  an  acre. 
One  of  these  caballerias  will  turn  off  about  70,000  or  80,- 
000  arrobas  ;  the  next  year  twenty  per  cent,  less,  and  the 
following  year  twenty  per  cent.  less.  I  used  to  replant 
about  forty  or  fifty  caballerias  every  year  to  replace  the 
cane  that  was  wearing  out.  I  am  free  to  say  that  I  think 
the  future  of  Cuba  will  be  better  under  American  rule." 

While  visiting  the  Conchita  estate,  near  Union,  Jose 
Antonio  Freyre,  the  manager,  told  General  Wilson  that 
he  had  spent  $50,000  last  year  for  oxen,  and  that  this  year 
he  would  spend  the  same  amount.  He  said  the  sugar  es- 
tate needed  at  least  900  more  working-cattle.  He  was 
buying  cattle  from  Mexico,  and  thought  the  age  of  five 
years  the  best.  After  the  oxen  are  secured  they  have  to 
be  trained.  The  Conchita  ingenio  has  a  tributary  area 
of  sugar-growing  lands  twenty  miles  long  and  ten  miles 
wide.     This  area  is  said  to  be  among  the  best  in  Cuba. 

Among  other  sugar  estates  also  visited  by  General 
Wilson  was  that  of  Occitania,  owned  by  the  Himely 
family  of  New  York.  The  manager  is  Mr.  William 
Himely,  part  owner  of  the  estate.  He  told  General  Wil- 
son that  he  had  plenty  of  cane  for  his  capacity  in  grind- 
ing. One  great  difficulty  was  to  get  sufficient  ready 
money  for  use.  He  had  only  about  thirty  yoke  of  oxen, 
but  was  employing  about  six  hundred  men.  The  ingenio 
was  started  in  1847,  and  had  missed  grinding  only  one 
year.     He  said  that  capitalists  were  timid  about  making 

360 


THE  SUGAR  PROBLEM  IN  CUBA 

advances  on  sugar  estates  during  the  war  because  they 
feared  that  the  properties  would  be  destroyed.  After  the 
war  was  over,  they  still  were  reluctant  to  put  out  their 
money  in  loans  for  the  working  capital  of  the  estates, 
because  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  island's  political  future. 

An  illustration  of  Spanish  indifference  and  almost 
treachery  towards  the  sugar-refining  industry  of  the  isl- 
and was  noted  by  General  Wilson  in  his  visit  to  Car- 
denas.    Here  is  what  he  jotted  down  in  his  rough  notes : 

"  Visited  large  sugar-refinery,  the  third  in  size  in  the 
island.  It  was  not  in  operation.  Formerly  turned  out 
200  bags  of  sugar  a  day,  the  bulk  of  their  product  going 
to  Spain.  Being  ambitious,  they  increased  the  capacity 
of  the  plant  to  1000  bags  a  day,  and  increased  the  capital 
stock  from  $200,000  to  $1,000,000.  Just  when  they  had 
commenced  to  reap  the  benefit  of  their  increased  busi- 
ness, the  Spanish  government,  in  order  to  protect  the 
sugar  interests  of  Malaga,  placed  a  prohibitive  tariff  on 
sugar,  and  this  concern  was  forced  to  close." 

Few  persons  understand  the  necessity  of  running  the 
sugar-mills  night  and  day  during  the  grinding  season  in 
the  spring  of  the  year,  from  four  to  five  months.  It  is 
because  the  raw  material  deteriorates  if  kept  for  any 
length  of  time.  The  sugar  in  the  cane  dries  up  if  the 
cane  is  not  crushed  promptly.  After  being  harvested  it 
cannot  be  kept  like  cereals.  Grain  and  cotton  may  be 
kept  for  a  long  time  before  they  are  transformed  into 
the  finished  product.  It  is  not  so  with  sugar.  The 
most  expeditious  action  is  necessary  if  the  full  available 
strength  is  to  be  procured  from  the  cane. 

All  sugar  is  produced  from  two  sources — the  sugar- 
361 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

cane  and  the  sugar-beet.  The  cane  grows  in  tropical 
countries  almost  entirely,  the  fields  in  Louisiana,  in  our 
own  country,  being  a  small  and  almost  inconsiderable 
part  in  the  vast  output.  The  beets  grow  in  the  temper- 
ate zone.  It  has  not  been  proved  that  raw  sugar  made 
from  the  beet  can  be  produced  and  landed  at  the  refinery 
at  two  cents  a  pound,  and  hence  one  can  see  what  an  ad- 
vantage Cuba  has  in  her  great  industry.  It  is  for  that 
reason  that  the  question  of  the  ultimate  annexation  of 
Cuba  to  this  country  may  play  an  important  part  in  our 
national  life.  We  all  remember  what  a  row  was  caused 
by  the  beet-sugar  men  and  the  cane-growers  of  Louisiana 
over  the  tariff  a  few  years  ago,  when  it  became  necessary, 
because  of  the  McKinley  tariff  law,- to  pay  a  bounty  for 
sugar  produced  in  this  country  in  competition  with  free 
sugar  from  other  countries.  The  sugar  problem  always 
complicated  the  relation  of  Hawaii  to  the  United  States 
before  annexation.  Should  Cuba  become  an  integral  part 
of  the  United  States,  another  tariff  row  will  undoubtedly 
result.  It  is  for  that  reason  that  the  probabilities  that 
Cuba  will  ever  become  more  than  a  colony  of  this  coun- 
try are  remote.  It  is  only  fair,  however,  to  the  Cuban 
sugar-producers  to  say  that  while  for  business  reasons 
they  would  prefer  annexation  to  this  country,  they  all 
declared,  so  far  as  I  was  able  to  get  their  personal  senti- 
ments, that  they  would  be  satisfied  with  an  American 
protectorate  or  a  colonial  government.  All  they  wanted, 
they  said,  was  a  settled  condition  of  the  politics  of  Cuba. 
They  declared  that  under  the  present  tariff  conditions 
they  could  make  money,  and  that  if  the  time  of  the 
mortgages  were  extended,  which   has   been  done,  they 

362 


THE  SUGAR  PROBLEM  IN  CUBA 

saw  a  profitable  future  ahead  of  the  industry  in  the 
island. 

Such,  in  a  general  way,  was  the  condition  of  the  sugar 
industry  directly  after  the  war  ceased.  The  future  of 
the  industry  was  summed  up  for  me  in  these  words  by 
probably  the  best-informed  man  in  Cuba  on  the  subject : 

"  Prosperity  in  the  sugar  industry  in  the  future  in  Cuba 
lies  along  a  very  simple  line.  It  is  the  ownership  or  con- 
trol of  the  lands  suitable  for  growing  the  cane,  and  so 
situated  that  the  expense  of  transporting  both  the  cane 
and  the  sugar  made  from  it  is  at  the  minimum." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

TOBACCO     IN     CUBA 

SECOND  only  in  importance  to  the  sugar  industry 
in  Cuba  is  that  of  tobacco.  Its  output  amounts 
to  many  millions  of  dollars  a  year,  and  fully  ioo,- 
ooo  persons,  and  perhaps  more,  are  dependent  upon  it 
for  a  livelihood.  Owing  to  a  peculiar  combination  of 
soil  and  climate,  Cuba  has  a  primacy  among  tobacco- 
growing  countries,  which  undoubtedly  will  be  retained 
always,  because  the  flavor  of  the  tobacco  raised  cannot 
be,  or  has  not  been,  equalled  anywhere  else. 

The  tobacco  industry  went  through  the  same  vicissi- 
tudes during  the  war  as  the  sugar  industry ;  plantations 
were  destroyed,  first  by  the  insurgents  and  later  by  the 
Spanish  forces,  unless  the  owners  paid  for  their  protec- 
tion; drying-houses  were  burned,  and  the  tobacco  seed- 
lings destroyed;  but  as  soon  as  peace  came  it  began  to  re- 
cover swiftly.  About  half  of  a  normal  crop  was  raised  in 
1899,  and  it  had  the  advantage  of  being  of  unusually  fine 
flavor  and  texture.  Prices  were  very  high  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  but  they  came  down  to  a  practical  business 
basis  soon  after  the  crop  was  harvested  in  February  and 
March,  and  as  soon  as  there  were  undoubted  indications 
that  by  the  year  1900  a  full  crop  would  be  raised. 

364 


TOBACCO    IN    CUBA 

Large  quantities  of  tobacco  had  been  husbanded,  and 
so  when  peace  came  the  cigar-making  industry  in  the 
one  hundred  or  more  factories  of  Havana  jumped  at  once 
into  a  really  flourishing  condition.  Every  factory  was 
running  early  in  the  year,  and  the  wages  ranged  from 
four  dollars  upward  a  day.    To  that  industry  alone  prob- 


TOBACCO    DRY  I  NO    IN    THE    SUN 


ably  could  be  ascribed  the  apparent  prosperous  condition 
of  the  people  in  the  city  almost  as  soon  as  peace  came. 
In  1897  General  Weyler  prohibited  the  exportation  of 
tobacco  from  Cuba,  except  to  Spain.  During  the  block- 
ade in  the  war  it  was  necessary  to  send  tobacco  to  dis- 
tant ports  of  the  island  that  were  not  blockaded,  for  ship- 
ment to  foreign  lands.  The  peasants,  who  are  expert 
in  the  growing  of  the  staple,  were   driven  from  their 

365 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

homes,  but  the  factories  in  Havana  were  not  entirely 
shut  down.  Their  owners  kept  them  running  at  a  loss 
rather  than  have  certain  well-known  brands  of  cigars 
fail  their  customers  in  foreign  lands,  and  they  sent 
money  to  the  planters  to  pay  the  military  factions  not  to 
destroy  the  bases  of  supply  entirely.  What  might  be 
called  tricks  of  the  trade  were  used  in  some  cases  to 
keep  up  the  supply  of  raw  material,  through  the  impor- 
tation of  tobacco  from  Puerto  Rico  and  other  places. 
Thousands  of  cigar-makers  went  to  Florida,  where  the 
cigar-making  industry  flourished  as  never  before,  to  sup- 
ply the  market  in  this  country. 

The  war  ceased  at  a  most  fortunate  time  for  the 
tobacco  industry.  The  plants  are  placed  in  the  ground 
in  October,  November,  and  December,  and  the  harvest 
begins  within  three  months.  The  harvest  in  the  sugar 
industry  cannot  be  reaped  until  from  twelve  to  eighteen 
months.  One  can  understand  at  once  the  immense  ad- 
vantage over  sugar  that  tobacco  had  in  the  recuperation 
of  agriculture  in  the  island.  Although  tobacco  is  grown 
almost  in  every  part  of  Cuba,  it  is  on  the  western  end 
of  the  island,  in  a  district  about  eighty  miles  long  and 
twenty-five  wide,  that  the  most  delicate  flavors  are  pro- 
duced. There  is  a  sheltering  mountain-range  running 
from  east  to  west  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  In  the  shade 
on  this  range  the  seedlings  are  propagated.  It  is  through 
the  situation  of  these  mountains  that  the  peculiar  cli- 
matic effects  are  secured  to  the  plant's  great  advantage. 
The  secret  of  the  soil  properties  has  not  yet  been  fath- 
omed. Seedlings  from  the  Vuelta  Abajo  district  do  not 
give  the  same  flavor  when  raised  in  other  soils. 

366 


TOBACCO    IN    CUBA 

Not  all  the  Vuelta  Abajo  district  is  adapted  to  tobacco- 
raising.  The  plant  is  grown  in  patches  of  from  five 
to  thirty  acres,  and  it  requires  expert  labor  to  produce 
it.  The  field-workers  are  men  and  women  of  delicate 
touch  and  perception.  Every  plant  is  handled  and  guard- 
ed with  the  utmost  care  and  vigilance.  The  plants  are 
watched  with  the  closest  fidelity,  to  protect  them  from 
insects.  When  the  plant  reaches  a  certain  stage  all  the 
leaves  but  about  ten  or  a  dozen  are  stripped  off  and  the 
head  of  the  plant  is  taken  away.  This  is  to  develop  the 
full  strength  of  the  plant  in  the  finest  and  largest  kind 
of  leaves.  At  just  the  right  time  the  leaves  are  picked 
from  each  plant,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three.  The 
picked  leaves  are  strung  across  poles  in  large  drying- 
houses  with  thatched  roofs.  The  leaves  are  kept  there 
from  two  to  three  months,  until  they  become  yellow  and 
dry.  They  remain  in  the  houses  until  the  rainy  season, 
when  they  may  be  packed  in  bales  of  about  one  hundred 
pounds  without  danger  of  crumpling.  Some  of  these 
bales  are  worth  almost  their  weight  in  gold ;  and,  indeed, 
it  may  be  said  of  the  very  finest  qualities  produced  that 
such  a  comparison  is  literally  true. 

There  is  immense  profit  in  a  well-conducted  tobacco- 
plantation.  Many  of  the  owners  used  to  count  on  a  year- 
ly profit  of  fully  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  actual  value  of  the 
plantation.  The  owners  of  some  of  the  largest  factories 
in  Havana  either  own  the  fields  from  which  they  draw 
the  supply  of  tobacco  for  their  various  brands  of  cigars, 
or  control  them  through  a  working  arrangement  with 
their  real  owners.  Many  of  the  growers  are  tenant  farm- 
ers, and  share  equally  the  profit  received  from  the  out- 
2  a  369 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

put  with  the  real  owners.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  of 
transferring  real-estate  titles  in  Cuba,  many  of  the  manu- 
facturers of  cigars  prefer  to  make  an  arrangement  to 
control  the  crop  on  certain  lands. 

Recently  there  has  been  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
capitalists  interested  in  the  manufacture  of  Cuban  cigars 
to  get  control  of  the  agricultural  side  of  the  industry, 
but  with  what  success  has  not  been  revealed  fully. 
There  has  been  a  combination  formed  undoubtedly  among 
the  manufacturers  in  Havana,  and  capital  to  the  value 
of  fully  $100,000,000  has  been  ready  to  form  the  so-called 
trust,  but  the  task  of  getting  the  tenant-farmers  to  pool 
their  interests  with  those  of  the  combination  is  not  easy, 
for  it  runs  against  the  traditions  of  centuries  in  this 
branch  of  agriculture  in  Cuba,  and  might  reduce  the 
actual  grower  to  the  plane  of  a  mere  workman  on  the 
lowest  possible  wages. 

It  is  agreed  that  one  man  with  an  ordinary  -  sized 
family  may  care  for  from  three  to  four  acres  of  tobacco- 
plants,  and  produce  in  three  months  about  $1000  worth 
of  leaves  at  about  a  cost  of  $175  to  $250.  To  a  man 
who  is  ignorant ;  who  has  few  desires  for  luxuries,  as 
we  know  them  ;  who  is  content  to  live  in  a  hut  out  in 
the  country  with  his  half- naked  family,  his  pigs  and 
his  dogs  and  his  gun;  who  neither  reads  nor  writes,  and 
who  desires  to  gamble,  with  dominoes  chiefly — such  an 
existence  produces  a  state  of  happiness  that  is  little 
short  of  ideal.  Thousands  upon  thousands  of  men  lead 
such  lives  in  Cuba,  and  they  welcomed  the  cessation  of 
war  because  it  restored  them  to  their  former  life  of  en- 
tire comfort.     Free  Cuba  was  a  matter  to  which  they 

37o 


TOBACCO    IN    CUBA 

were  profoundly  indifferent  politically  so  long  as  they 
were  free  Cubans. 

Some  of  these  tenant  farmers  hire  field  laborers.  The 
price  for  the  most  expert  cultivators  was  as  high  as  three 
dollars  a  day  this  year,  probably  owing  to  the  scarcity  of 
laborers,  but  the  price  of  ordinary  labor  was  about  one 
dollar  a  day. 

So  active  was  the  demand  for  tobacco  this  year  that 
the  entire  crop  was  sold  practically  before  it  was  harvest- 
ed. There  was  no  lack  in  getting  money  advances,  and 
so  a  measure  of  prosperity  was  quickly  restored  to  the 
Vuelta  Abajo  district,  the  largest  part  of  which  is  in  the 
province  of  Pinar  del  Rio.  There  was  no  person  of 
thrift  who  did  not  profit  by  it.  It  was  easy  to  get  land 
to  till,  and  there  was  a  demand  for  laborers  greater  than 
the  supply.  The  contrast  between  the  fresh  and  beauti- 
ful fields  of  green  tobacco  in  Pinar  del  Rio  early  in  the 
year  and  the  grass-grown  districts  of  the  other  parts  of 
the  island  was  most  marked.  I  spent  part  of  one  day  on 
a  plantation  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  of  Pinar  del 
Rio,  and  found  an  interesting  illustration  of  what  thrift 
in  growing  tobacco  meant.  There  was  a  little  batch  of 
tobacco  leaves  set  apart  for  drying  in  the  large  drying- 
house  on  the  plantation,  and  I  asked  if  they  were  of  a 
peculiar  kind. 

"  No,"  said  the  planter,  laughing.  "Those  do  not  be- 
long to  me.     Whose  do  you  suppose  they  are  ?" 

I  said  I  could  not  guess,  and  he  replied : 

"  There  is  nearly  $300  worth  of  tobacco  there,  and  it 
all  belongs  to  our  cook.  He  grew  it  in  his  spare  mo- 
ments on  land  near  the  house,  and  it  is  one  of  the  per- 

37i 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

quisites  of  his  place.  You  see,  there  are  worse  jobs  in 
the  world  than  being  a  cook  in  Cuba,  if,  in  addition  to 
your  work,  you  can  make  what  is  known  in  your  country 
as  '  velvet,'  to  the  extent  of  $300." 

That  planter  informed  me  that  a  man  owning  thirty 
acres  of  tobacco-growing  land  in  that  region  could  clear 


EXPERT    FIELD-HANDS   AT   WORK 

from  $3000  to  $4000  a  year  easily.  He  said  he  knew  of 
one  planter  who  had  about  4000  acres,  from  which  his 
clear  profit  was  fully  $40,000  a  year  before  the  war.  A 
man  named  Diaz,  in  San  Luis,  was  said  to  reap  a  profit 
of  $122,000  a  year  from  his  estate,  one  of  the  largest  in 
Cuba.  The  largest  cigar  manufacturer  in  Cuba,  Gustav 
Bock,  who  manufactures  nearly  one-half  of  the  cigars 

372 


TOBACCO    IN    CUBA 

made  in  Havana,  is  one  of  the  few  manufacturers  owning 
large  tracts  of  tobacco-growing  lands.  He  planted  no  less 
than  7,000,000  plants  this  year.  His  experience  with  the 
agricultural  side  of  the  industry  had  been  such  that  he 
became  the  leading  spirit  in  the  attempt  to  transform  the 
industry  into  the  trust  already  spoken  of.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  agricultural  side  of  the  industry  is 
therefore  profitable  to  all  growers,  large  or  small. 

Throughout  the  Vuelta  Abajo  district  in  March  one 
could  see  numerous  new  drying-houses  in  process  of  erec- 
tion. One  of  the  drying-houses  that  I  visited  was  packed 
full  from  ground  to  roof.  There  were  no  less  than  thirteen 
stories,  or  layers,  of  tobacco  leaves  hung  up  in  it. 

The  manufacturing  side  of  this  industry,  like  the  agri- 
cultural side,  has  its  traditions  and  well-established  cus- 
toms. The  war  interfered  with  one  of  the  most  interesting 
of  these  customs,  but  only  war  could  stop  it,  for  as  soon  as 
peace  came  it  was  resumed.  That  was  the  custom  of  the 
cigar-makers  to  hire  men  to  read  aloud  to  them  during 
certain  hours  of  the  day.  There  is  not  a  cigar  factory  of 
any  size  in  Havana  that  does  not  have  its  "reader."  He 
comes  twice  a  day  and  reads  aloud  to  cigar-makers,  usual- 
ly an  hour  and  a  half  at  each  session.  Each  reading  is 
divided  into  two  parts,  one  part  being  given  to  newspaper 
reading  and  the  other  to  purely  literary  reading.  The 
cigar-makers  each  contribute  ten  cents  a  week  to  the 
reader's  support,  and  when  there  are  from  three  to  four 
hundred  operatives  in  one  room  it  may  be  seen  that  the 
reader  makes  a  handy  sum  for  three  hours'  work  a  day. 

The  custom  of  employing  these  readers  is  practically 
as  old  as  the  cigar-making  industry  in  Havana.     The 

373 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

manufacturers  have  tried  several  times  to  stop  it  for 
one  reason  or  another,  but  it  has  invariably  brought  on 
a  strike,  and  the  workmen  have  won.  When  the  war 
came  General  Weyler  stopped  the  reading  in  the  fac- 
tories because  there  was  so  much  of  what  he  thought 
was  seditious  in  the  newspapers,  and  because  he  also 
thought  that  the  readings  fomented  trouble  in  the  city. 
As  soon  as  the  war  was  over,  the  reading  was  resumed. 
I  attended  one  of  these  readings  at  the  factory  of  J. 
Vales  &  Co.  The  reader  sat  in  a  high  chair,  where  he 
could  be  seen  by  all  the  workers.  The  president  of  the 
labor  union  rang  a  bell  for  silence  ;  and  then,  with  a 
rasping  voice  that  carried  the  words  sharply  into  every 
part  of  the  room,  the  reader  began  his  literary  selection 
for  the  day.  It  was  a  Spanish  translation  of  Lcs  Mistf- 
rablcs.  Later  he  read  the  daily  newspaper.  The  reader 
is  always  selected  by  competition.  Trials  are  held,  and 
then  the  workmen  vote  as  to  a  choice.  A  committee  in 
charge  selects  the  works  to  be  read.  Sometimes  a  vote  is 
taken  among  the  workmen  when  there  is  divided  opinion 
as  to  a  programme.  Usually  a  very  high  grade  of  fiction 
is  selected.  Travel,  history,  and  humor  also  play  a  part 
in  the  readings,  and  the  result  is  that  the  average  cigar- 
maker  in  Havana  has  an  acquaintance  with  literature 
that  few  persons  in  his  grade  of  life  possess. 

The  cigar  factories  in  Havana  are  found  in  most  cases 
in  buildings  the  exteriors  of  which  resemble  stores  and 
dwellings.  There  are  few  plain  buildings,  such  as  are 
built  for  factories  in  the  United  States.  Some  old  man- 
sion or  building  that  could  be  adapted  to  any  of  a  half- 
dozen  purposes  is  used.     There  is  a  larger  percentage  of 

374 


TOBACCO    IN    CUBA 

loss  in  the  making  up  of  the  raw  material  than  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  customary  to  allow  each  workman 
in  Cuba  to  make  from  five  to  ten  cigars  a  day  for  his 
personal  consumption  out  of  the  material  on  which  he 
is  working.  When  that  material  is  of  the  very  finest 
quality,  a  leaf  that  is  made  into  cigars  selling  for  from 
thirty  cents  to  a  dollar  each  in  this  country,  one  can  see 
that  the  perquisites  of  cigar-makers  are  costly  to  their 
employers.  It  is  a  custom,  and  that  is  above  all  ques- 
tions of  profit  and  loss,  especially  when  the  boss  loses. 

The  wages  of  the  men  run  from  $20  to  as  high  as  $35 
a  week.  There  is  an  apprenticeship  system.  Extensive 
use  is  also  made  of  the  labor  of  women  and  girls.  The 
women  and  girls  make  from  one  dollar  to  one  dollar  and 
a  half  a  day,  and  are  employed  in  a  variety  of  tasks. 
They  select  and  grade  wrappers,  and  many  of  them  are 
employed  in  the  cigarette  departments  of  the  factories. 
They  also  do  some  of  the  packing  work,  prepare  boxes, 
and  place  labels  on  the  cigars.  The  women  are  of  all 
ages.     As  a  rule,  they  work  in  rooms  by  themselves. 

Before  the  war  the  annual  crop  of  Cuban  tobacco  was 
about  600,000  bales  of  100  pounds  each.  About  two-fifths 
of  it  was  used  in  Havana  in  cigar  and  cigarette  making, 
and  the  other  three-fifths  was  exported.  The  crop  for 
1899  probably  ran  close  to  300,000  bales,  despite  the 
scarcity  of  labor. 

The  pathway  of  returning  prosperity  to  Cuba  ran 
through  the  tobacco-plantations  first.  It  was  through 
the  revival  of  the  tobacco  industry  that  the  people  of 
the  island  knew  what  the  blessing  of  peace  meant  in  a 
commercial  sense. 

375 


CHAPTER   XVII 

Havana's  new  police  force 

JOHN  McCULLAGH,  former  chief  of  police  of  New 
York  city,  strolled  down  the  Prado  in  Havana  one 
day  in  February,  1899,  and  cast  a  critical  eye  over 
eight  hundred  men  drawn  up  in  double  rank  in  com- 
panies and  battalions.  The  men  were  in  citizens'  dress, 
and  they  stood  at  attention.  They  were  the  men  who 
had  been  selected  from  twenty  -  four  hundred  appli- 
cants for  membership  in  Havana's  new  and  first  real 
police  force.  They  ranged  from  5  feet  6^  inches  to  6 
feet  \\  inches  in  height.  Every  eye  was  towards  the 
front  and  every  man  was  alert.  They  were  nervous,  but 
keenly  intelligent;  nearly  one  -  half  were  well  dressed. 
The  rest  had  made  an  effort  to  hide  deficiencies  in  per- 
sonal appearance.  Nine-tenths  were  in  excellent  physical 
condition.  Here  and  there  thin  and  drawn  features  told 
a  story  of  the  hardships  of  campaigning  or  of  illness. 
Most  of  them  had  been  advocates  of  Cuba's  freedom, 
and  probably  one-half  of  them  had  served  in  jungles  in 
the  starved  so-called  Cuban  army.  It  was  plain,  as  Mc- 
Cullagh  went  down  the  ranks,  that  there  was  an  esprit  de 
corps.  Pride  in  the  work  and  an  eagerness  to  show  effi- 
ciency were  stamped  on  every  face.     Except  for  their 

376 


HAVANA'S  NEW  POLICE  FORCE 

ages,  they  looked  like  West  Point  "plebes"  after  being 
lined  up  for  the  fourth  or  fifth  time. 

Several  American  army  officers,  detailed  to  give  in- 
struction in  drilling,  were  within  call  as  McCullagh 
sauntered  to  the  right  of  the  line. 


RAW    MATERIAL   FOR   HAVANA'S   NEW   POLICE   DRAWN   UP  FOR   DRILL 


He  called  an  interpreter,  who  summoned  the  battal- 
ion's chiefs  and  captains. 

"I  want  the  men  to  move  by  fours  right,"  he  said, 
"and  then  form  company  front  and  march  up  the 
Prado." 

The  interpreter  told  the  assembled  officers  what  the 
order  was  ;  the  army  officers  gave  a  word  of  explana- 

377 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

tion,  and  then  a  great  jabbering  and  gesticulation  began. 
The  officers  all  talked  at  once.  They  shrieked  at  one 
another  ;  they  threw  their  hands  this  way  and  that ; 
they  took  measured  steps  here  and  there  ;  then  they 
cooled  down  into  an  animated  jabbering,  and  finally  one 
after  another  ceased  talking  and  assumed  an  air  of  calm. 
In  a  flash  the  storm  broke  again.  McCullagh  had  been 
standing,  half-amused,  but  with  cold  exterior,  off  at  one 
side.  His  brow  now  became  wrinkled,  he  bit  his  lower 
lip,  opened  his  mouth  to  speak,  checked  himself,  clinched 
his  hands,  and  then  blurted  out  in  a  sharp  order: 

"  Interpreter,  tell  those  men  to  quit  talking,  and  go 
and  do  it!" 

The  officers  gave  a  searching  glance  at  the  former 
New  York  chief  of  police.  He  smiled,  and  they  started 
off  with  animation.  Shrill  commands  in  Spanish  rang 
down  the  lines.  At  last  "  Forward,  march  "  was  given, 
and  the  entire  body  of  men  moved  off  at  a  quick  pace. 
Then  they  formed  company  front,  and  at  last  John  Mc- 
Cullagh was  happy. 

M  Good  !  good !"  he  shouted.    "Very  good  !    Bueno  /" 

It  had  all  been  done  in  ten  days.  It  was  a  show  well 
worth  seeing,  and  it  was  a  worthy  source  of  pride.  Only 
ten  days  before  had  the  first  man  in  the  parade  passed  his 
physical  and  mental  examination.  If  John  McCullagh 
has  had  one  superior  quality  of  excellence  as  a  police- 
man, it  has  been  as  a  disciplinarian,  a  drill-master,  and 
he  has  always  showed  it  in  controlling  a  large  body  of 
men.  Raw  and  crude  as  was  his  material  in  this  case, 
from  a  military  standpoint,  his  skill — one  might  almost 
say  his  genius— showed  itself  as  those  men  marched  up 

378 


HAVANA'S    NEW    POLICE    FORCE 

Havana's  great  show  street.  The  drill  lasted  half  an 
hour.  The  men  were  dismissed,  and  ordered  to  appear 
again  for  the  usual  morning  and  afternoon  drills.  The 
officers  were  told  to  come  to  police  headquarters  in  the 
evening  for  instruction. 

Twice  a  day  McCullagh  went  through  the  work  of 
drilling  his  policemen,  of  putting  spirit  and  pride  into 


JOHN   MCCULLAGH 
Organizer  of  the  Police  Force 

them,  of  instructing  their  officers  in  what  real  police 
duty  means.  That  alone  was  a  tremendous  task,  but 
it  was  a  mere  trifle  of  the  work  McCullagh  had  to  do 
in  an  advisory  capacity  for  the  creation  and  equipment 
of  the  Havana  police  force. 

It  was  on  December  14,  1898,  that  McCullagh  arrived 
in  Havana.  General  Greene,  the  first  military  governor 
of  the  city  under  the  United  States,  had  asked  President 

379 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

McKinley  to  send  him.     Colonel  Moulton  of  the  Second 
Illinois  Volunteers  had  been  appointed  Chief  of  Police. 


MAJOR    EVANS,   U.   S.  V. 
Organizer  of  the  Criminal  Court 

Colonel  Moulton  and  Mr.  McCullagh  at  once  plunged 
into  work.  For  three  days  they  drove  about  the  city 
They  studied  the  police  system  in  force.  It  was  a  farce. 
About  1800  men  were  on  duty.  Of  these,  300  were  mu- 
nicipal police,  appointed  by  the  City  Council  to  enforce 
the  city  ordinances ;  300  were  government  police,  appoint- 
ed by  authorities  of  the  province  ;  1200  belonged  to  the 
or  den  publico.  The  1200  were  really  soldiers.  They  and 
the  city  police,  in  cases  of  arrest  for  felony,  had  to  turn 
prisoners  over  to  the  government  police.  There  were  no 
station-houses.  All  the  prisoners  were  taken  to  the  vivac, 
or  city  jail.  A  record  was  made  of  the  arrest,  and  that 
was  as  far  as  all  police  records  went.    There  was  no  rec- 

380 


HAVANA'S    NEW    POLICE    FORCE 

ord  of  criminals  kept,  and  after  a  man  was  sent  to  jail, 
all  sight  of  him  was  lost  so  far  as  the  police  were  con- 
cerned. 

The  policeman,  after  an  arrest,  took  his  prisoner  to 
his  captain,  whose  office  was  in  his  residence.  The  cap- 
tain committed  him  to  jail  and  sent  the  case  to  a  magis- 
trate. There  were  twelve  magistrates,  six  of  whom  were 
"judges  of  the  first  instance."  The  salary  of  these  was 
$5000  each,  and  they  adjudicated  felonies.  The  other 
six  judges  received  no  salaries,  and  they  sat  in  misde- 
meanor cases.  They  simply  lived  on  blackmail  and  rob- 
bery. Those  prisoners  who  had  money  never  went  to 
jail  to  stay.  Only  a  Tammany  official  in  the  old  days 
could  thoroughly  "size-up"  such  a  situation.  It  would 
probably  appal  him  at  the  start  as  a  "magnificent  graft." 
After  from  one  to  three  days  the  prisoners'  cases  were 
heard,  and  then  came  jail  or  a  fine.  The  police  knew 
no  more  about  the  cases,  except  as  an  unusually  intelli- 


TIIE    MOUNTED    POLICE 


gent  policeman  kept  a  record  for  himself.    The  man  who 
went  to  jail  got  out  afterwards  as  best  he  could,  either 

381 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

from  expiration  of  sentence  or  through  corruption.  The 
system  was  thoroughly  Spanish  in  its  operation,  and 
corruption  was  its  corner-stone. 

Four  days  after  his  arrival  McCullagh  reported  to 
General  Greene,  and  laid  before  him  a  full  and  complete 
reorganization  plan.  He  divided  the  city  into  six  in- 
spection districts  and  twelve  precincts.  He  recommend- 
ed that  360  night  posts  and  180  day  posts  be  established. 
He  divided  the  force  which  was  necessary  in  his  judg- 
ment as  follows  :  1  chief,  1  deputy-chief,  8  inspectors,  12 
captains,  48  lieutenants,  834  patrolmen,  10  detective  ser- 
geants, 14  detectives,  12  precinct  detectives,  and  12  door- 
men. Of  the  patrolmen,  100  were  to  be  mounted  for 
duty  in  the  suburbs.  The  force  was  to  consist  of  about 
1000  men. 

The  same  day  that  this  report  was  made  applications 
for  membership  on  the  force  began.  The  word  was 
simply  passed  around.  General  Greene  approved  the  re- 
port, and  then  McCullagh  went  to  work  on  equipments. 
He  sent  orders  to  New  York  for  shields,  belts,  day  and 
night  sticks,  tassels,  wreaths,  numbers,  and  other  para- 
phernalia. The  United  States  government  agreed  to  fur- 
nish pistols.  General  Greene  co-operated  instantly  with 
McCullagh.  A  design  for  a  uniform  and  buttons  was 
agreed  upon.  There  was  not  sufficient  cloth  in  Havana 
to  make  the  blue  uniforms.  The  contractor  had  to  sail 
for  New  York  to  get  it.  For  the  buttons  and  shields 
special  dies  had  to  be  cast.  They  had  to  bear  the  coat 
of  arms  of  Havana.     This  occupied  a  month. 

McCullagh  then  started  to  get  up  his  printing.  These 
were  desk  blotters,  arrest-books,  force-books,  oath-books, 

382 


HAVANA'S    NEW    POLICE    FORCE 

returns  of  various  kinds,  complaint  -  books  against  the 
force,  transfer-books,  and  other  kinds  of  stationery.  He 
drew  up  a  set  of  180  rules  and  regulations,  and  instruc- 
tions in  the  school  oi  the  soldier  and  of  the  company — 
all  to  be  printed  in  English  and  Spanish.  Bids  were 
asked  for  the  printing,  and  a  contract  given.  A  printers' 
strike  delayed  matters  in  the  work  for  an  entire  week. 


GENERAL   MARIO    MENOCAL 
First    Chief   of    Police   of  Havana 


General  Greene  went  home  on  December  24th,  and 
General  Ludlow  took  his  place  as  governor  of  the  city. 
Naturally  General  Ludlow  went  all  over  the  ground 
again  with  McCullagh.  Everything  was  explained,  and 
General  Ludlow  approved  the  plans.  There  was  some 
delay  about  the  selection  of  station-houses  and  their  fit- 
tings. There  also  developed  some  friction  in  the  actual 
control  of  the  police.     Finally  Colonel  Moulton  was  de- 

383 


THE    NEW-BORN    CUBA 

posed  as  chief  and  sent  back  to  his  regiment,  and  General 
Menocal,  formerly  of  the  insurgent  army,  was  appointed 
chief.  Practically  nothing  had  been  accomplished  from 
December  16th  to  January  12th.  McCullagh  grew  im- 
patient and  wanted  to  go  home.  He  told  General  Lud- 
low so,  and  it  is  no  secret  that  General  Ludlow  refused 
to  let  him  go.  McCullagh  asked  if  anybody  was  to  stand 
between  him  and  the  general  in  creating  the  force,  and 
the  general  said  there  was  not.  McCullagh  went  to  work 
again  with  renewed  vigor,  and  on  January  16th  the  first 
applicants  were  examined.  Two  surgeons  were  employed. 
The  men  had  to  be  at  least  5  feet  6£  inches  tall,  and  to 
be  in  good  physical  condition,  or  able  to  be  put  in  that 
condition  soon.  They  had  to  read  and  write.  No  dis- 
tinction was  made  as  to  religion  or  past  political  sym- 
pathies. Quite  a  number  of  former  Spaniards  were  ac- 
cepted. Those  who  stood  the  test  were  presented  to 
McCullagh.  He  took  the  best  and  placed  them  to  one 
side  as  finally  accepted.  The  others  were  placed  on  a  re- 
serve list.  He  did  not  reject  them,  because  he  feared  he 
might  run  short  of  men.  Day  after  day  the  examination 
went  on,  until  2700  men  had  been  passed  upon,  and  800 
accepted.  Drills  began  at  once  ;  measurements  of  every 
man  were  taken  for  uniforms,  and  officers  were  appoint- 
ed.    Everything  was  done  systematically. 

Many  of  the  officers  were  former  Cuban  officers.  One 
inspector  was  General  Menocal's  brother.  A  captain  was 
a  nephew  of  Henry  Clews  ;  another  captain  was  Roose- 
velt's bugler,  Cassi,  who  had  seen  service  in  Dahomey, 
in  Tonquin,  in  the  Chinese  navy,  and  in  the  American 
army.     The  deputy-chief  was  General  Cardenas  of  the 

384 


HAVANA'S    NEW    POLICE    FORCE 

Cuban  army.  Most  of  the  patrolmen  were  members  of 
the  best  Cuban  families.  Some  of  them  had  been 
wealthy,  some  looked  like  former  prosperous  business 
men.  Even  in  citizen's  dress,  some  of  them  half-ragged, 
they  presented  an  unusually  intelligent  appearance. 

McCullagh's  hard  work  was  in  full  swing.  He  found 
that  there  was  no  accurate  map  of  distances  in  Havana 
A  civil  engineer  who  was  recommended  to  him  from 
New  York  as  competent — a  man  who  once  had  surveyed 
part  of  Havana  —  was  appointed  a  lieutenant  of  police, 
and  ordered  to  measure  every  street  in  the  city.  Several 
days  were  occupied  in  this,  and  finally  the  posts  were 
laid  out  for  the  entire  city  by  feet.  It  was  a  tremendous 
undertaking,  but  Havana  distances  were  soon  known  to 
the  exact  foot. 

It  was  decided  to  fix  their  salaries  —  chief  of  police, 
$4000  ;  deputy-chief,  $2000  ;  inspectors,  $1800  ;  captains, 
$115  a  month  ;  lieutenants  (sergeants  in  New  York),  $90 
a  month  ;  sergeants  (roundsmen  in  New  York),  $65  a 
month  ;  patrolmen  and  doormen,  $50  a  month.  Each 
man  had  to  pay  for  his  equipment  in  deductions  from 
his  salary. 

I  went  with  McCullagh  to  one  of  his  drills.  It  all  had 
to  be  done  through  interpreters.  Commands  were  given 
in  English  and  Spanish,  so  as  to  accustom  the  men  to  the 
Americanizing  of  affairs.  There  were  many  mistakes. 
McCullagh  frequently  dashed  into  the  lines  and  set  some 
officer  or  man  in  the  right  path.  He  was  patient,  but 
severe  and  stern,  and  a  wave  of  discipline  seemed  to  run 
through  the  ranks  at  his  first  approach.  Nevertheless,  he 
was  kindly  at  all  times,  and  discouraged  no  man.    It  was 

387 


THE    NEWBORN    CUBA 

a  terrific  trial.  He  muttered  criticisms  in  confidence  to 
me  as  the  men  passed  before  him,  pointed  out  this  and 
that  man  as  especially  adapted  to  police  duty,  tried  in 
vain  to  repress  the  jabberings  and  gesticulations  of  his 
officers,  and  in  an  undertone  once  said,  regarding  the 
display  of  a  piece  of  annoying  stupidity  : 

"  Now  wouldn't  that  drive  a  New  York  police  official 
crazy  ?" 

Marked  progress  was  made,  however,  and  finally,  after 
a  hard  attempt  to  make  the  men  break  ranks  in  proper 
form,  he  jumped  into  a  carriage  half  exhausted,  but  real- 
ly proud. 

"  It's  hard  work,"  he  exclaimed,  "but  I'll  have  those 
men  in  as  fine  shape  as  any  police  force  in  the  world  be- 
fore I  finish." 

Then  he  dashed  to  his  printers.  It  was  the  old  ma- 
nana  story  again.  Certain  blanks  would  surely  be  ready- 
to-morrow. 

"  What  time  ?"  asked  the  outwardly  imperturbable 
McCullagh. 

"Two  o'clock." 

McCullagh  sent  a  look  into  his  contractor's  eyes  that, 
would  have  made  a  man  in  New  York  sink  into  a  chair 
in  fright.     He  paused  a  long  time. 

"  I'll  give  you  until  four  o'clock,"  he  said,  "  and  if  you 
don't  deliver  them  you'll  not  get  paid  for  them." 

Then  he  jumped  into  his  carriage  again.  He  said  he 
expected  to  go  through  with  the  same  thing  every  day 
for  a  week  with  his  printers.  Off  he  raced  to  the  cloth- 
ing contractor.  Some  of  the  patrolmen  were  trying  on 
their  uniforms.     Here  was  apparent  progress,  but  it  was 

388 


HAVANA'S    NEW    POLICE    FORCE 

only  apparent.  The  force  was  nearly  a  week  behind  time. 
I  have  never  seen  a  more  excited  and  gesticulating  crowd 
of  men  than  in  that  tailoring  establishment.  From  the 
proprietor  down  to  porters  all  were  crying  manana,  and 
McCullagh  finally  fled. 

Gradually  McCullagh  perfected  his  work,  and  in  the 
latter  part  of  February  the  force  went  to  work.  At 
first  the  people  refused  to  take  the  policemen  seriously. 
There  were  numerous  riots,  and  several  policemen  were 
killed  in  them.  There  were  several  clashes,  also,  be- 
tween them  and  United  States  soldiers  off  duty.  Gener- 
al Menocal's  course  failed  to  secure  public  approval,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  he  resigned.  Gradually  the  police  force 
secured  public  respect.  The  desire  to  use  fire-arms  too 
freely  was  repressed,  and  by  mid-summer  the  force  was 
in  satisfactory  working  order,  considering  the  lack  of 
experience  in  police-work  on  the  part  of  the  men  and 
the  absence  of  all  proper  police  traditions  in  Havana. 
The  result  was  a  tribute  to  McCullagh's  ability. 


THE    END 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED   FOR   FAILURE  TO   RETURN 
THIS    BOOK   ON   THE   DATE   DUE.    THE   PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY    AND     TO    $f.OO    ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY 
OVERDUE. 

DEC  17  1935 

?nMav'AQAPv 

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RECEIVED 

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ui-^j         i     jyu^ 

CIRCULATION  DEPT. 

LD  21-95w-7,'37 

U.C  BERKELEY Agjjjggj 


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601764 


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